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This study generally investigated the contribution of Community Health Workers to Orphan and Vulnerable Children’s access to health services in Dodoma Municipal, Tanzania. Specifically, the study assessed different health services provided to Orphan and Vulnerable Children in Dodoma Municipal, examined the involvement of Community Health Workers in Orphan and Vulnerable Children’s access to health services and examined the challenges faced by CHWs in facilitating OVC’s access to health services. Cross sectional research design was employed with a sample size of 58 respondents, 10 key informants and three focus groups with six members each. Purposive and simple random sampling were adopted to select key informants and OVC caregivers respectively. Primary data were collected through questionnaire survey, key informants interview, focus group discussions and non-participant observation. Secondary data were collected through documentary review. Qualitative data were subjected to content analysis while quantitative data were extracted, classified and computed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 23 into frequencies, percentages and presented in tables and charts. Study findings show that 55% of the OVC access health services from CHWs. While access to health services for 45% of OVC was mainly hindered by the lack of reliable transport and long distance OVC had to travel to hospitals/dispensaries, inadequate drugs at dispensaries/hospitals and absence of CHWs in other villages in the study area. In the case of CHWs lack of testing kits, and sufficient training, motivation and low acceptability of health issues of OVC’s caregivers were among the main challenges hindering them from facilitating OVC’s access to health services. The study concludes that CHW contributes to OVC’s access to health services. To improve health services for OVC the study recommends the government to increase the number of CHWs, health centers and provide CHWs with relevant training. |
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