In a village in western Uganda, a trained community health worker pulls a laminated 'sick child job aid' from his bag. Using this illustrated guide, he assesses the symptoms of his patient for some of the most common yet dangerous childhood illnesses - pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria. Step by step, he follows the process in his job aid so that he can be sure he is making a proper diagnosis and providing the correct treatment. He also checks for any danger signs so that, if necessary, he can refer the child to a health facility.
Such is the usefulness of this job aid that community health workers in Uganda have often referred to it as their bible - serving the dual purpose of building their confidence in their ability to do their work, while acting as educational tools for patients and caregivers of sick children.
Job aids have been found to be a great help to community health workers, providing essential guidance for frontline health workers who often have low literacy levels and limited specialist knowledge of health issues. Having a visual guide can help reinforce training and sustain good practice in the long-term.
In a new learning paper, Malaria Consortium outlines extensive experience of developing and providing job aids on a range of topics – from diagnosis of childhood illnesses to guides on submitting data through mobile phones – to support the case management of childhood diseases at community level. It's all in the detail: developing effective health-related job aids shares lessons learned and shows examples of what has worked and what has not.
For example, in Mozambique it was discovered that the facial expressions in job aid illustrations are vital to conveying the urgency of a situation. If a mother has a worried expression, it is clear to the viewer that the situation is undesirable and requires a response, whereas a blank or contented facial expression implies that no action is required.
In another example in South Sudan, a job aid depicting an entire family sleeping under a mosquito net was largely ignored due to the cultural unsuitability of a father sharing a bed with his child.
In keeping with the attention to detail, Malaria Consortium has developed six criteria that are essential for a well-designed job aid. These include using literacy-appropriate language, illustrations and symbols to communicate key messages, and showing clear decision pathways for critical outcomes such as when a child can be treated at home, or if a child needs to be referred to a health centre.
As well as creating content that is culturally relevant and accurate, job aids need to be consistent with health guidelines, as well as describe processes that align with current healthcare practices.
These and other criteria, as well as recommendations on the process of developing, implementing and evaluating job aids, are described in the learning paper, It's all in the detail: developing effective health-related job aids, available to download here.
You can also watch our video Saving time saves lives, which reflects on experiences implementing ICCM at community level in Uganda.
This content is produced and controlled by Malaria Consortium
