Training is an Important Factor for Community Health Workers

Introduction Community health workers (CHW) are health workers who are trained but do not possess a formal professional certificate, live and work in the community. The Ministry of Health Malaysia had initiated a community-based intervention programme, known as Healthy Community Empowers the Nation or ‘Komuniti Sihat Pembina Negara’ (KOSPEN) where CHWs main task is to conduct non-communicable diseases (NCD) risk factor screening. Methods Data from the “Evaluation of the implementation of KOSPEN programme in Malaysia 2016” was used. Logistic regression analysis was applied to determine factors associated with not performing KOSPEN screening activities by the volunteers. Data analysis was performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Results [Refer to Poster]. Discussion / Conclusion Volunteers and community health workers have been widely recognised to help in reducing the burden of NCDs in their communities. Sufficient training and resources is needed to facilitate their work. Volunteers who were not trained were not likely to perform screening activities maybe be due to lack of confidence as community volunteers are usually lay persons with little or no medical training. Attendance of training should be a pre-requisite to qualify as a volunteer. Improvement to the training module should done to increase comprehensibility of the modules among the volunteers