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On July 2, Philips Foundation hosted its second webinar of a series on strengthening access to quality healthcare for underserved communities. In this second webinar of a series, we explored ways to strengthen the role of community healthcare workers by empowering them with innovative technologies and skills to perform more advanced tasks and continue to improve primary health care in the community.
About You'll hear from experts on the impact of technology solutions on the work of community healthworkers, overcoming barriers through inclusive design and how technology support stimulates work retention. You can watch the recording, or read our editorial based on the discussions that took place during the webinar:
Background information Community health workers (CHWs) play an indispensable role in providing basic health services and addressing the health worker shortages in low-resource settings. By being embedded in their communities and through household visits, they stimulate healthy habits, prevention and appropriate health seeking behavior, while also signaling of health issues that need referral into the formal healthcare system. Yet, despite CHW’s recognized significance, the potential of CHWs is underutilized because they are often poorly equipped, while limited payment and career perspectives lead to challenges to keep CHWs committed to the function. Philips Foundation is exploring ways to strengthen the role of CHWs by empowering them with tools, technologies and skills that enable them to perform more advanced tasks. In various projects, Philips Foundation has seen that this not only helps increase CHW’s effectiveness and relevance towards better health outcomes, but can also boost motivation and even income generation.
In this webinar, moderator Dr. Bahaa Eddine Sarroukh (Philips Foundation), delved into the topic with the experts, along three lines of panel discussions:
Confirmed speakers
Panel discussion I – Inclusive design Orla Canavan, Strategic Product Design Lead for the 510 Initiative at the Netherlands Red Cross Simona Rocchi, Sr. Design Director at Philips Design Rukia Abdalkadir, Executive Director of AMEN Kenya Dr. OP Singh, Head Program Implementation Health & Nutrition at Save the Children India Sarah Kedenge, Research Scientist at Philips Research Christine Apimo, Digital Solutions Specialist at Philips Connected Primary Care Solutions Panel discussion III – Retention Joost van Engen, Founder of Healthy Entrepreneurs Irene Adema, Research Scientist at Philips Research
Ayushi Singh, Senior Program Manager at ZMQ
Panel discussion II – Technology solutions