Roles of Village Health Volunteers in the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis

Abstract

This article aims to study (1) roles of village health volunteers in the COVID-19 pandemic situation, and (2) guidelines of competency development for village health volunteers in dealing with emerging infectious diseases. It is based on a field research focusing on village health volunteers in Patong sub-district, Hat-Yai district, Songkhla Province. The research methodology employs qualitative data collection methods covering general observation, in-depth interview, group interview and brainstorming. The research key informants are 60 persons recruited by purposive sampling. The research findings are derived by conventional content analysis and triangulation method. It is found that village health volunteers arguably play an important role in community-based interventions for infection prevention and control; principally 6 areas, risk communication, home health care, screening for the disease, disease control, voluntarily providing the necessities for people who are in needs, and faithfully guarding the village against corona. Moreover, this research also reveals that village health volunteers should be equipped with competencies, particularly in 3 areas: digital literacy, health literacy, and transformational leadership skills. Accordingly, the reskill and upskill programs for village health volunteers are most likely compulsory for enhancing the self-reliant capability of local community to overcome recent COVID-19 pandemic and other emerging diseases crisis in the future.