BU Research Blog

Today we saw the publication of our latest paper about FCHVs (Female Community Health Volunteers) in Nepal [1].  This paper is Open Access and hence freely available worldwide, to anyone with an internet access. The FCHV programme is one of the most successful parts of the health system of Nepal. This programme covers over fifty thousand FCHVs distributed across the country.  These women provide unparalleled services to help across communities to improve outcomes in communicable and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and aid health promotion and education.

Previous papers focusing on FCHVs included the recently accepted paper in PLOS Global Public Health [2], as well as two previous papers based on the Ph.D. study by Dr. Sarita Panday on FCHVs [3-4].  The latest paper is co-authored with Sankalpa Bhattarai is is working with our long-term collaborating agency Green Tara Nepal.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

References:

1. Bhattarai, S., & van Teijlingen, E. (2024). Nepal Needs A Two-Pronged Approach to Secure Future of Its Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs). Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 9(1), 43–48. https://doi.org/10.3126/jmmihs.v9i1.68640
2. Panday, S., Barnes, A., van Teijlingen, E. (2024) Exploring the motivations of female community health volunteers in primary healthcare provision in rural Nepal: a qualitative study, PLOS Global Public Health (forthcoming).
3. Panday, S., Bissell, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. (2017) The contribution of female community health volunteers (FCHVs) to maternity care in Nepal: a qualitative study, BMC Health Services Research 17:623 be/vz9C
4. Panday, S., Bissell, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. (2019) Perceived barriers to accessing female community health volunteers’ services amongst ethnic minority women in Nepal: a qualitative study, PLoS ONE 14(6): e0217070 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0217070