{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.026376677464136973, 'fraction_numerical': 0.025451180009254976, 'mean_word_length': 5.358823529411764, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Community Health Workers’ Role in Preventing and Controlling the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background. From the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2019 in Iran, the Iranian health system, following its mission, began planning with the goal of pandemic prevention and control. Various steps were taken, and the program of National Mobilization against COVID-19 was devised to provide services for individuals in the community, mainly the sick and vulnerable, and promote people's knowledge and skills regarding the crisis. Given the role of Community Health Workers (Behvarzes and Moragheb-e-Salamats) in preventing and controlling infectious diseases, this study was carried out to investigate their role in the COVID-19 pandemic. Material. The present study is a descriptive cross-sectional study. The census method was used to study 30034 Behvarzes and 22573 Moragheb-e-Salamats working in medical universities. The required data were extracted using the integrated health system and the portal of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education's Primary Health Network Management Center and were analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistical methods. Results. More than 78 million people were screened during the first step of the national mobilization against COVID-19, more than 42 million during the second step, and more than 59 million during the third step. In addition, by the end of the fourth step of the national mobilization, 4,278,899 people who had come into close contact were screened. According to the health system's report, these community health workers had injected 28,073,777 vaccines since the implementation of the fifth step (until 04.09.2021). Conclusion. Considering the facilities and capabilities of primary health care networks in providing prevention, diagnostic, and treatment services, the activity of the primary health network management center and all affiliated units in the implementation of the National Mobilization against COVID-19 program has been significant since the beginning of this pandemic. Inadequacies in healthcare human resources, financial resources, and training planning should all be considered.