• The global health workforce

The global health workforce

This paper, prepared for the International Consortium for Research on Equitable Health Systems, provides an overview of the concepts and practice of Community Health Workers (CHWs) in several developing and developed countries. In doing so it identifies critical factors that influence the overall performance of CHWs including gender, the nature of employment, career prospects and incentives, educational status and training. It finds that the selection of CHWs from the communities that they serve, population coverage and the range of services offered at the community levels are vital in the design of effective CHW schemes. The smaller the population coverage, the more integrated and intensive the service offered by CHWs.

The paper concludes that a carefully designed and implemented community health workers scheme could have far reaching implications for the whole society beyond generating better health outcomes. For example, it could improve their self-esteem, substantially empower women from low-income countries and help them to earn respect from the community. Thus, a well designed and implemented CHW scheme could help reduce social inequity. [adapted from author]

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