Study Brief: Strengthening Health Systems by Addressing Community Health Workers’ Mental Well-Being and Agency

The aim of SHINE’s research is to explore the stressors faced by Community Health Workers using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach, and to co-develop, pilot, and evaluate holistic health system support packages in two different LMIC contexts – Bangladesh and Kenya. These packages will focus on strengthening CHWs’ mental well-being and agency, ultimately contributing to greater health system resilience. We will address this long-neglected area by drawing on mental well-being and resilience frameworks and by strengthening both the hardware (e.g., training) and software (e.g., community cohesion and support) components of the health system.