We have had a strong start in our Ziniaré learning site after launching operations at the end of 2022 with more than 200 government CHWs trained. CHWs are hitting their progressive targets and continuing to improve with drivers including regular supervision, frequent engagements with CHWs and good collaboration with the district and Ministry of Health (MoH). Notably, the district has attributed a jump in sick children reached to Living Goods’ support. National data showed that in Ziniaré, malaria assessments and treatments increased 14 times, pneumonia treatments over 3 times, and diarrhea treatments over 2 times between the first quarter of last year and the first quarter of 2023, with Living Goods-supported CHWs operating in 4 out of 7 municipalities in the district starting January 2023.

This shows that DESC supported, performance driven CHWs are already finding and connecting sick children to care, filling an urgent need. However, not all indicators were reported on in Q1 due in particular to issues with data flow and syncing of the newly launched CHWs’ digital tools; available data currently comes from manual reporting, which likely understates results. We have been working closely with the MoH and other partners
including Dimagi to fix this issue, but there have been delays in part due to the recent changes in personnel at the Health Information Department.

CHWs also had inadequate availability of essential medicines, though we are seeing improvements after initiating buffer stock and training health facility and district staff on supply chain practices and managing stocks with a focus on CHW needs. We are now conducting monthly performance review meetings at health facilities to address knowledge gaps and encourage transfer of skills.