Case Study Details - The EDISON Alliance - Improving the efficiency of scale-up and deployment of community health workers in Mali: A geospatial analysis

Optimising the scale and deployment of community health workers (CHWs) is important for maximizing geographical accessibility of integrated primary health care (PHC) services. Yet little is known about approaches for doing so. This research used geospatial analysis to model optimised scale-up and deployment of CHWs in Mali, to inform strategic and operational planning by the Ministry of Health and Social Development. Accessibility catchments were modelled based on travel time, accounting for barriers to movement. This geospatial analysis provides useful information to policymakers and planners in Mali for optimising the scale-up and deployment of CHW and, in turn, for maximizing the value-for-money of resources of investment in CHWs in the context of the country’s health sector reform. The geospatial analysis to model this research used AccessMod software, a Digital Public Good (DPG).

Impact / Outcome

A hypothetical network of 15 843 CHWs would ensure 77.4% of the estimated 2020 population beyond 5 km of a primary referral facilities (Centres de santé de référence, CSRef) or public sector community health centres (Centres de santé communautaire, CSCom) were within a 30-minute walk of an CHW. Across three hypothetical CHW networks, there was less than 0.6 percentage points difference in geographic coverage when prioritizing the estimated population, estimated U5 deaths, or estimated Pf malaria cases among all ages (0–99 years) in 2020 within a 30-minute catchment of an CHW.

Funding sources

Private

Key Metrics

Improve distribution of community health workers (CHWs), particularly in rural, remote, and under-served geographic areas