The Experiences and Challenges of Community Health Volunteers as Agents for Behaviour Change Programming in Africa: A Scoping Review

Abstract Community health volunteers (CHVs) are considered a vital part of the community health structure in Africa. Globally, community health volunteers are widely recognized as vital components in the health system of low- and middle-income countries, enabling the extension of national and sub-national capacities for diagnosis, treatment, monitoring, and health promotion programs. Despite this vital role in the health system, very little is known about the CHVs day-to-day lived experiences providing services in communities and supporting other health workers. The purpose of this scoping review is to better understand the experiences and challenges of a community health volunteer in Africa. More specifically, drawing on the community health volunteers’ accounts of their experiences as reported in the literature to date, this review aims to identify critical factors or conditions that represent challenges to community health volunteers work in Africa. Advancing an understanding of community health volunteers experiences and challenges can inform governments and programs on how best to support community health volunteers both generally and specifically with respect to performance expectations within community-based healthcare delivery or health behaviour change and promotion programs.