Village health-workers and GOBI-FFF. An evaluation of a rural programme

Growth monitoring, oral rehydration, breast-feeding and immunisation - female education, family spacing and food supplementation (GOBI-FFF) are a selective package of World Health Organisation primary health care strategies recommended by UNICEF. Changes over a 1-year period in the implementation of the components of GOBI-FFF were investigated in a rural village in Ciskei to detect any changes associated with a newly modfied village health-worker (VHW) programme. A baseline survey was conducted before the introduction of a modified VHW programme and a second survey took place a year later. The principles of GOBI-FFF were already familiar to and have since been increasingly practised by the community and health personnel. Breast-feeding is widespread, most carers know how to make oral rehydration solution and most children have a 'Road to Health' card and are being weighed regularly. However, malnutrition remains a major problem and the food supplementation programme is operating poorly. The high coverage of the community by the village-health-workers and the clinic suggest that these two channels should be used more intensively to strengthen the GOBI-FFF programme in the area.