“It took a while to be trusted. We had to prove our worth, but now we are well appreciated.”
Janet is a mother and a farmer. She takes care of her daily BRAC work after finishing her farm work. She has poor eyesight. Janet has a feature phone. She has seen smartphones but never used one. She has no electricity at her home. She charges her phone at her friend’s house. Janet has a trusted boda driver who she uses to help her deliver drugs.
Janet is a CHW who has been working for BRAC for 2 years. She lives in Bembe Central, a periurban town. She visits 10 and 15 homes daily where many of the families live in brick/clay huts reinforced with straw with no electricity, running water or internet connection.
Janet visits homes based off a list after she finishes her day job. There is no particular order, although she follows the register. While she may get some specific calls, most days she just visits homes and records her visits in the book. Some visits can be as quick as 2 minutes. She walks along a dirt road with her BRAC outfit making her stand out. She often calls out to her neighbors as she walks alon the road. In the rainy season — when diarrhea is often worse — these roads flood. Janet does not visit homes on these days.
During her visits Janet carries her register, an education booklet, drugs and other sales material in her bag which is very heavy. She readjusts the weight of her bag several times and sometimes drops her drugs. Bodas play an important role in the health system here. Janet has a trusted body driver, whom she asks to deliver drugs.
On days with her Supervisor, Janet might visit 20-25 homes. The Supervisor joins her at least once a month where they also conduct “health forums” together. Supervisors conduct technical procedures,such as taking BP, marking columns in the CHWs register and later copies this into their own during refresher trainings.
A normal day lasts about 2 hours.
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