Health Surveillance Assistants (HSAs)

In the past, most HSAs were recruited by the government of Malawi only to support immunization services in the country. They are responsible for 60% of all vaccinations given to under-five children in the rural areas. However, currently, HSAs are seen as a super health worker expected to do everything at the community level. Their tasks include: growth monitoring, sanitation, water source protection and water treatment, disease surveillance, village and business inspection, health and nutrition talks, and supervising traditional birth attendants and village health and water committees, providing family planning methods, following up in TB patients and other health-related tasks as advised by the government or NGOs.

Although HSAs contribution reduced prevalence rates of the highly infectious but preventable diseases and as they play significant role in detecting disease outbreaks; their impact on the improvement of health situation is highly constrained by inadequate training, limited and irregular refresher courses, limited reference material and technical support.

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