Qualification of community health workers to face the COVID-19 pandemic: an experience based on popular health education

Abstract

The importance of Community Health Work (CHW) for the prevention, control, reduction and mitigation of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is re-presented in the current scenario, with popular education being the epistemological basis that supports it. The aim of this article is to report the experience of implementing a “Course for Confronting the Pandemic in Primary Health Care (PHC) for CHW”, in partnership between municipalities and universities. The stages of implementation are described, involving face-to-face and online teaching, the participating subjects, contents and methodologies based on popular education: the context of the pandemic and the role of PHC and CHW; the structure of the COVID-19 virus and forms of prevention; workshops on mask use, proper hand washing and preparation of a chlorinated water solution; the role of CHW in the flow of epidemiological surveillance and health care; vaccines; self and community care; communication and community mobilization strategies. The course involved 340 CHW, 76 Agents to Combat Endemic Diseases, 70 higher education professionals, 14 residents, 02 professors. Training was presented as an opportunity to innovate professional and teaching practices, strengthening the relationship between science and health services, with a view to transforming subjects and realities, based on popular health education.