No health worker should have to choose between treating their patients and keeping themselves and their families safe. However, as the global shortage and inequitable distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE) continues, many health workers face this choice.

This reality is especially true for community health workers (CHWs) in low-and middle-income countries. Despite playing a central role in delivering essential health services, CHWs are often the last to receive PPE. For two Malawian CHWs, Raphael Salanga and Reuben Chipelesa, known as Health Surveillance Assistants (HSAs), choosing between protecting themselves or serving their communities happens on a daily basis.

“We are very passionate about serving our community,” Chipelesa said. “(We provide) care and support so that people do not die from unnecessary deaths, even at the expense of endangering our own lives.”

So, in October 2020, when PPE came to their community, Salanga and Chipelesa were relieved. Over 10,000 HSAs across 28 health districts in Malawi received a donation of over 2 million pieces of PPE (including face masks and face shields) from the COVID-19 Action Fund for Africa (CAF-Africa). The initiative is the only known effort to protect CHWs like Salanga and Chipelesa, and a recent donation by the Skoll Foundation will help CAF-Africa equip CHWs with PPE to serve their communities safely, both now and in the future.

For CHWs serving remote communities, limited access to PPE and other health products is not a problem that began—nor will end—with COVID-19. CAF-Africa has helped procure and distribute PPE to 12 African countries thus far, but beyond this pandemic CHWs need reliable access to PPE and health products to serve their communities.

Read the full article about protecting community health workers by Alinafe Kasiya at Skoll Foundation.