Malawi has an estimated shortfall of 8,000 health surveillance assistants (HSAs), Ministry of Health has said.
Minister of Health, Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda, said in the past five years, Malawi has made important strides in closing the human resource gap as the government has recruited over 3,000 additional HSAs.
Speaking in Lilongwe during a Disease Control and Surveillance Assistants (DCSAs) graduation ceremony, Chiponda said currently the country has about 12,000 HSAs which include 110 Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) that were recruited last year with the support of the Historically Black Colleges Universities Global Health Consortium (HBCU GHC).
“The HSA to population ratio for the country is still much higher at 1:1,600 than the recommended 1:1000 and this means HSAs have big catchment areas to look after,” Chiponda said.
She said the graduation of another 110 DCSAs contributes to reduction of the human resource gap of community health workers.
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It also goes some way in economically empowering girls, she said.
“The graduating girls will be managed and supported together with the rest of the HSAs already on the ground to effectively increase access to community health services,” she said.
Director of HBCU GHC, Nikita Dera, said its Dream programme will support the DCSAs going straight into the Ministry of Health as employees for two years.
“As the next cohort is coming we will continue supporting the government to help fill the gap of 8,000 HSAs,” Dera said.
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During commemorations marking National Community Health Day in Likoma, President Lazarus Chakwera said the government has started closing the human resource gap, citing its plan to hire over 10,000 additional HSAs and increase the number of assistant environmental health officers, community health nurses and community midwife assistants.
