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Currently more than seven million HIV-positive people are eligible for antiretroviral treatment globally but are not receiving it. Health system challenges, including the shortage of a well-trained health care workforce have created barriers to scaling up HIV care and treatment. Recognizing the critical shortage of health care workers in low-and middle-income countries, the … [Read more...] about The Role of CHWs in multidisciplinary care teams and the XIX International AIDS Conference

CHWs serve as an interface between the community and the public health system. Almost all CHWs are trained either by the government Ministry of Health and/ or non-governmental organizations (NGO) and community-based organizations (CBO). Whether the CHW is trained as a generalist to  provide community-based health interventions or specially trained for a specific health … [Read more...] about Can CHWs be effective advocates?

Poor management has often been cited as a common weakness in the sustainability of CHW programs.  This is compounded by a lack of flexibility in management personnel to respond to contextual issues, poor training of managers, and a significant dearth of information on day-to-day performance of dynamic programs.  When a manager is strategic and has access to … [Read more...] about Use of data to inform CHW program strategy and day-to-day management

Last month, Xinia posed this question, which I believe is a central one for many of us working in community health: “How do we ensure educational processes in the community? How do we avoid what I call ‘a mere knowledge transmission’ and substitute it for real educational processes with the people?" My colleague at Hesperian Health Guides, Zena Herman, … [Read more...] about Community Health Guides Part 2: Beyond paper

Hesperian Health Guides is excited to join the CHW Central community in a conversation about developing materials for health education and training. We have been producing practical health  manuals for over 30 years, starting with the publication of Where There Is No Doctor, and we’ve learned  a lot in the process about how to make materials relevant, … [Read more...] about Community Health Guides: Making materials relevant, effective, and empowering