Written by Montira Narkvichien, Communications Specialist, WHO
28 August 2020
Koo Bang Luang, Thailand -- For four decades, Thailand’s vast army of village health volunteers have helped their fellow citizens to keep safe from all manner of disease. Now the volunteers are helping to protect them from an epidemic unlike any they have ever faced.
The volunteers have eased the anxious journey of people like Somchai Chachumpa, 37, who in March fled a COVID-19 outbreak in the Republic of Korea, where he was working in an ice cream factory, to return to his home in Koo Bang Luang.
“I was very worried, scared and wanted to leave as early as possible, knowing it will be better in my home country,” Somchai said in an interview with the World Health Organization (WHO).
He said that during his mandatory 14-day quarantine after arriving home, “the health professional and the health volunteer called every morning to make sure I was okay; that I checked my temperature daily and monitored myself.”
“They also provided me with meals and made sure I was not too stressed,” he added.
Now Somchai is safe and looking for a job in Koo Bang Luang, a semi-urban subdistrict of Pathum Thani province that is 50 kilometers north of Bangkok.
A village health volunteer attends to a patient at the Koo Bang Luang health promotion hospital © WHO/Ploy Phutpheng - 2020
The Ministry of Public Health manages 1.04 million village health volunteers across the country, including 15,000 volunteers in Bangkok. Each volunteer receives 1,000 Thai baht (about US$ 32) per month and has received an extra 500 baht incentive during the COVID-19 outbreak.
These volunteers have been a key part of primary health care in Thailand during the past four decades. They undertake health surveys, collect data, maintain family health records, and do disease prevention campaigns to support the public health authorities. In times of outbreaks, their meticulous records of the medical histories of community members are used for contact tracing and health monitoring.
The volunteers have helped protect people from long-familiar diseases throughout their seasonal cycles. During the rainy season, they visit homes to empty containers of still water where dengue-bearing mosquitoes lay their eggs, kill mosquito larvae, and eliminate breeding places. During the summer, they help the rural livestock department give rabies vaccines to cattle and pets.
A trained village health volunteer (left) helps a nurse treat a patient at the Koo Bang Luang health promotion hospital © WHO/Ploy Phutpheng - 2020
The volunteers focus on educating and informing. They help people to understand both the causes and the most effective ways to prevent and treat diseases like dengue, rabies and malaria. That’s a lesson they are using for COVID-19.
The volunteers are knocking on doors of all households to give advice on COVID-19 prevention, symptoms and self-observation, while handing out cloth masks that they have hand-sewn as well as alcohol-based gel and health flyers. During the height of Thailand’s battle against COVID-19, the volunteers were given face masks and shields, biohazard bags and alcohol-based gel for their protection.
Nationwide, from 2 to 26 March, they visited 3.3 million households. Between 27 March and 11 April, they visited 8 million additional households to look for potential cases of COVID-19, focusing on people suspected to be at risk of infection, according to the Ministry of Public Health.
Village health volunteers help take care of patients at the Koo Bang Luang health promotion hospital © WHO/Ploy Phutpheng -2020
During a 22 June visit to Koo Bang Luang’s health promotion hospital, WHO staff members saw health volunteers showing COVID-19 reports to community residents on mobile applications, so they would be able to keep up to date on trends abroad, as well as learn about the benefits of social distancing, using alcohol-based gel and avoiding large public gatherings
The WHO staff members witnessed volunteers helping with COVID-19 prevention and control, and efforts by the hospitals to keep people physically and mentally fit. Volunteers were seen helping to measure blood pressure and delivering drugs to the homes of patients with chronic diseases.
The village health volunteers keep themselves updated about COVID-19 and operational guidelines through an app designed especially for use during the outbreak, as well as through social media group chats among primary care health personnel, said public health specialist Siriporn Samsone, who works with the volunteers in Koo Bang Luang. She said the volunteers report incidents, consult doctors about the health of community members and call for ambulances.
Nationwide, the village health volunteers also help the Government with contact tracing and quarantine when people need it. isolating people who require home quarantine. They also help to make sure that people and businesses adhere to COVID-19 prevention measures.
The volunteers’ efforts have been particularly needed as the pandemic piled pressure on hospitals and clinics.
“Village health volunteers are key community personnel who have helped essential health care services to continue without disruption,” said Sushera Bunluesin, a WHO National Officer for its Thailand Office.
The volunteers also reassure people during an uncertain, anxious time - strengthening the Koo Bang Luang community’s sense of safety and self-care. And they ease the social stigma that has developed around people being investigated because of COVID-19-like symptoms and those like Somchai who have recently returned to the country (almost all of Thailand’s reported COVID-19 cases of recent months have been among returnees).
Dr. Daniel Kertesz, WHO Representative in Thailand, speaks with a health volunteer at the Koo Bang Luang health promotion hospital © WHO/Ploy Phutpheng - 2020
“Thailand’s village health volunteers are unsung heroes, working to support the prevention, detection and reporting of COVID-19. We recognize the importance of the role they have played in supporting public health in Thailand for more than four decades,” said Dr. Daniel Kertesz, WHO Representative in Thailand.
Those who helped Somchai in his return from the Republic of Korea included Bunchuay Krodgnam, 49, who has been a health volunteer in Koo Bang Luang for 26 years.
Bunchuay removed her face mask to show a wide grin. “You see? There is no sign of exhaustion but rather the pride in serving our community,” she said. “We are ready for whatever comes our way. We know everyone here and we have their trust and confidence.”
“We have done our best to serve our community whenever it needs support, during COVID-19, before it and beyond,” she said.
“Each one of us is caring for 10 families including our own,” said Thongbai Jaimun, 60, who has served her community for 27 years and is now the head of Koo Bang Luang’s health volunteers. “We are so connected to our place of birth and our community. This thinking helps us go through this difficult time day by day.”
The volunteers are chosen by their communities for being public minded, concerned about health, and willing to help those in need. Bunchuay said she started as a volunteer after winning a community breastfeeding and parenting contest when she was 19 years old.
A health volunteer helps care for a patient at the Koo Bang Luang health promotion hospital © WHO/Ploy Phutpheng - 2020
Nationwide, the health volunteer force is increasingly dominated by women like Bunchuay and Thongbai. Of the 130 volunteers in Koo Bang Luang, 120 are women.
“Female health volunteers are the engine to engage with community to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak. They are able to work in tandem with other government health and administration officials and are able to pass on their knowledge and experiences to younger practitioners,” said Dr. Samai Sirithongthaworn, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Mental Health, Ministry of Public Health.
“They have an eye for detail, strong determination and emotional intelligence. Women are able to access homes to care for the elderly, help to maintain essential health services without disruption, and visit those in home quarantine to help the community remove the stigma against people under COVID-19 investigation.”
Koo Bang Luang has had no COVID-19 cases so far.
Daniel Kertesz, Richard Brown and Sushera Bunluesin contributed to this article.
Edited by Peter. J. Eng
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Sharing COVID-19 experiences: The Thailand response
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