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A Care Group is a group of 10-15 volunteer health educators who meet regularly for training and support, responsible for sharing knowledge with neighbors to bring behavior change at the household level. This model ensures equitable communication for behavior change and sets up a health information system to track key health indicators. With implementations in various countries, Care Groups work alongside Community Health Workers to reach communities effectively, reducing mortality rates and improving health outcomes. For more information, visit CareGroupInfo.org.
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Care Group TAG Highlights Melanie Morrow Director of MCH Programs World Relief With input and selected slides from other CG TAG participants December 9, 2010
Description of a Care Group A Care Group is a group of 10-15 volunteer, community-based health educators who regularly meet together with project staff for training and supervision. They are different from typical mother’s groups in that each volunteer is responsible for regularly visiting 10-15 of her neighbors, sharing what she has learned and facilitating behavior change at the household level.
Description (cont.) • Care Groups create a multiplying effect to equitably reach every beneficiary household with interpersonal behavior change communication. • They also provide the structure for a community health information system that reports on new pregnancies, births and deaths detected during home visits
5 WR Staff Supervisors 26 Health Animators (paid) 173 Care Groups of 10-15 Volunteers 10 Householdsper volunteer (24,200 total HH reached) World Relief Mozambique Vurhonga 2 Care Group Structure
Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene 2007
Countries where Care Groups have been implemented • Liberia • Malawi • Mozambique* • Niger • Philippines • Rwanda • Uganda • Zambia Bolivia Burundi Cambodia DRC Ethiopia Guatemala Indonesia Kenya * First Care Group Project in 1995, World Relief Mozambique
Care Group projects serving populations > 1 Million people • Food for the Hungry Mozambique • Cost per beneficiary per year: $2.78 • KabehoMwana EIP consortium in Rwanda using modified approach (Concern Worldwide, The IRC and World Relief) • World Relief Mozambique SCIP
Key Messages from Care Group TAG Care Groups are not meant to replace CHWs but they provide a means to extend the reach of CHWs to achieve high levels of household level behavior change associated with mortality reduction. Implementation of Care Groups at scale requires partnership with MOH, NGOs and communities.