Needs and challenges of lay community health workers in a palliative care environment for orphans and vulnerable children

Through the findings, a framework for enhancing the work experiences of the lay community health workers was developed. The uniqueness of this framework is that the focus is on improving the work lives of the lay community health workers, who have serious skills-resourcing needs. There were specific concrete strategies that the organization could adopt to support the knowledge and skills requirements of the lay community health workers in relation to the needs and challenges that will enhance their efficiency in the palliative care environment. The findings and framework that emanated from this study could be used to support lay community health workers in their respective organizations to be more effective in the support they provide to orphans and vulnerable children. Because South Africa is afflicted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, this framework can be used in similar organizations that are working with lay community health workers with skill-resourcing needs not only in the health sector, but also in other sectors, such as in education and agriculture.