Functioning of Health Extension Program: Gimbo, Southwest Ethiopia

In programs like Health Extension Program (HEP), where various stakeholders are involved, it is important to seriously consider what form of interaction is embedded in the overall functioning of the program. Of the stakeholders, Health Extension Workers (HEWs) and nurses are professionals directly or indirectly involved in the provision of health services while supervisors, woreda (district) coordinators and kebele (lowest administrative unit) officials are the most important ones in the administrative arena. Community Health Workers (CHWs), Trained Traditional Birth Attendants (TTBAs) and other voluntary community health agents are the major stakeholders in the informal health system. More than all, the community is the most important stakeholder in HEP. Access, utilization of health services and functioning of the overall program are significantly influenced by the interaction between stakeholders found either in the formal and/or traditional health systems... The book provides a brief analysis on the aforementioned issues and others related to HEP.