Assessment of Improvement in Subcenter Performance with Appointment of a Second Health Worker (Female)

Background: Health workers have been increasingly recognized as the most important inputs in a health system. The World Health Report 2000 notes "performance (quality and efficiency) of a health system depends ultimately on the knowledge, skills and motivation of the people responsible for delivering services". Recognizing the importance of Health Workers (Female) for the delivery of health care delivery, Government of India decided to appoint a second HW (F) in every subcenter under NRHM, which was launched in India in 2006. The present study was undertaken to assess if the performance of subcenters improved after introduction of a second health worker.

Method: The present study was conducted in twenty subcenters from seven PHCs in Wardha from March 2010 to April 2010 using both quantitative and qualitative methods.

Results: The findings of the in-depth interviews showed that there is an improvement in field visits and reporting of vital events especially in subcenters with more population The improvement was also observed in pregnancy registration, institutional deliveries and subcenter deliveries. The improvement in subcenter functioning, both in terms of quality&quantity were not as expected after doubling of manpower at subcenter.

Conclusion: Our assessment suggested there ia a improvement in subcenter performance with appointment of a second Health Worker (Female).