{"id":70617,"date":"2025-08-11T09:01:04","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T07:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/doctorswithafrica.org\/en\/?p=70617"},"modified":"2025-08-11T09:01:04","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T07:01:04","slug":"empowering-refugees-the-experience-of-chws-in-ethiopia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doctorswithafrica.org\/it\/empowering-refugees-the-experience-of-chws-in-ethiopia\/","title":{"rendered":"Empowering Refugees the experience of CHWs in Ethiopia"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>\u201cThe training I took not only strengthened my ability to serve but also empowered me to protect my own family. I have learned, I have grown and I have found strength in the support and commitment CUAMM has shown to my people. For that, I am deeply grateful\u201d <strong>Ruey Tut Pal is a South Sudanese Refugee <\/strong>living in <strong>Ngunyyiel Refugee camp<\/strong>. In 2020 he took part in health trainings offered by CUAMM and joined the team as a Community Health Worker, soon after he became a Supervisor. \u201c<em>W<\/em>orking with CUAMM alongside both national and international teams have shaped me in ways I never imagined\u201d he claimed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Located in southwestern Ethiopia near the South Sudanese border,\u00a0<strong>Gambella region has hosted a large number of mostly South Sudanese refugees since 2014<\/strong>. Today, more than <strong>395,000 refugees<\/strong> are living in seven camps, including Ngunyyiel.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-70619 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/doctorswithafrica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/sdf.jpg\" width=\"670\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/doctorswithafrica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/sdf.jpg 670w, https:\/\/doctorswithafrica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/sdf-300x179.jpg 300w, https:\/\/doctorswithafrica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/sdf-18x12.jpg 18w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 670px) 100vw, 670px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In this camp, CHWs conduct daily <strong>house-to-house visits<\/strong> to deliver key health messages, assess children&#8217;s vaccination status, remind families about critical health appointments such as immunization and antenatal care (ANC), and trace defaulters children and pregnant women who have missed their scheduled care. They also <strong>identify children<\/strong> who have never been vaccinated and link them to the immunization services.\u00a0 In collaboration with healthcare workers, they <strong>support outreach vaccination campaigns<\/strong> to reach unserved populations.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cOne of their most impactful initiatives is the <strong>Tea Talk Sessions<\/strong> \u2013 said <strong>Daniel Frau, CUAMM Area Manager in Gambella<\/strong>. Twice a week, these community gatherings which are predominantly attended by pregnant and lactating women offer a platform for health education, feedback collection, and community dialogue. During these sessions, CHWs, midwives, and nutrition officers identify unvaccinated children, women missing ANC visits, and screen for malnutrition\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Community Health Workers \u2013 CHWs are an essential pillar in delivering and sustaining primary health care services among refugees. By living and working within the community, CHWs are often the first to recognize signs of illness or complications in pregnant women and children and can therefore help overcoming <strong>the first delay<\/strong>, the delay in seeking care which is a major contributor to preventable maternal and child deaths. Their early intervention ensures that health conditions are addressed before they become severe, reinforcing the principle that <strong>prevention and early detection are more effective than curative care<\/strong>. This frontline presence has significantly contributed to reducing maternal and child morbidity and mortality in Nguneyyiel Refugee Camp.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cCHWs have always played a key role in CUAMM\u2019s interventions in the region. They have always been selected from within the refugee community and this has proven to be strategic and effective approach due to the fact cultural and linguistic familiarity make the CHW\u2019s are more likely to be accepted and respected, leading to greater community engagement to the project intervention\u201d stated <strong>Daniel Frau.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Over the past 5 years, <strong>more than 500 CHWs have been trained by CUAMM<\/strong> in health-related issues to better serve the refugee populations in the bordering region of Gambella. Currently, <strong>60 trained CHWs are deployed <\/strong>in Nguenyyiel refugee camp as part of the team serving in the \u201c<em>Emergency response to the South Sudanese crisis through an integrated and inclusive approach in health, nutrition and protection<\/em>\u201d project which is supporting two health posts located in the camp.<\/p>\n<p>The contributions of CHWs have been instrumental to the success of CUAMM\u2019s primary health care interventions in the Ngunyyiel refugee camp. Their close connection with the community, consistent engagement, and ability to mobilize and educate residents have made health <strong>services more accessible and effective<\/strong>. The progress made in disease prevention, maternal and child health, and immunization coverage in Nguneyyiel would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of the Community Health Workers.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gambella region has hosted a large number of mostly South Sudanese refugees since 2014. Today, more than 395,000 refugees are living in seven camps, including Nguneyyiel where CUAMM CHWs work tirelessly to ensure them basic healthcare services.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":70618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1172,2493],"tags":[1252,2529,2608,2886,2887],"argomenti":[2666],"protagonisti":[],"luoghi":[2526,2606],"class_list":["post-70617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-homenews","tag-gambella","tag-ethiopia","tag-refugees","tag-chws","tag-community-health-workers","argomenti-community-health-workers","luoghi-ethiopia","luoghi-gambella"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/doctorswithafrica.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/doctorswithafrica.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/doctorswithafrica.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doctorswithafrica.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doctorswithafrica.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/doctorswithafrica.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doctorswithafrica.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/doctorswithafrica.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doctorswithafrica.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doctorswithafrica.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70617"},{"taxonomy":"argomenti","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doctorswithafrica.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/argomenti?post=70617"},{"taxonomy":"protagonisti","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doctorswithafrica.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/protagonisti?post=70617"},{"taxonomy":"luoghi","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doctorswithafrica.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/luoghi?post=70617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}