10-6
HOW MUCH SUPPORT FROM THE PROGRAM IS NEEDED?
Some programs
provide too little
support and assistance
for their health
workers. Others
provide too much
regulation and
supervised control.
And many programs
manage to make both
mistakes at once.
It is important that health workers be trusted and encouraged to take initiative.
They must feel free to help people find their own ways of solving their own
problems.
At the same time, it is important that health workers have . ..
• reliable advice when they need it,
• a reliable source of medicines and essential supplies, and
• a reliable place where they can refer persons who have illnesses or injuries
they are unable to treat.
How often a health worker will need visits from his adviser will depend, in part,
on how much support the community gives him. But mostly it will depend on the
type of training he has had.
Training that helps develop self-reliance, problem-solving
skills, initiative, and the ability to use books effectively will
prepare health workers to work more or less
independently.
Training programs that emphasize obedience, memorizing facts, and
filling out forms create health workers who need a lot of supervision.
Usually, however, the frequency with
which support persons visit health workers
depends less on need than on the limitations
of time and distance. Especially where health
workers live in villages reached only by
footpath and muleback, visits tend to be
very infrequent. Some advisers manage
to visit their health workers only once or
twice a year. In these cases, support from
village health committees and neighboring
health workers is particularly important.