Moving from Services to Advocacy: Maximizing the Role of Community Health Workers in Policy, Systems, and Environmental Changes
Program Context: Public health continues to move toward a holistic community approach. This transition requires the participation of historically marginalized populations in policy, systems, and environmental work to address the social determinants of health that perpetuate health disparities. Equity has become a buzzword in the field. However, to truly achieve equity,…
Equity and Community Health Workers: Redefining Community Health
In 1920, almost one hundred years ago, the first community health worker (CHW) program was established in China. The Farmer Scholars, later called Barefoot Doctors, were illiterate farmers trained to take vital statistics, deliver vaccines, provide first aid, and give health talks. The program became famous for its marked successes…
Universal Health Coverage Day 2018
The achievement of universal health coverage requires the availability of trained health workers at the community level. CHWs are an essential element of the community health workforce; yet, to harness the potential of CHWs to extend health services to poor and marginalized populations, there is an urgent need to optimize…
Appreciating the critical role CHWs play in the HIV/AIDS response
For World AIDS Day 2018, we want to recognize the critical role that community health workers play in the HIV/AIDS response. Across the globe, CHWs of various kinds—from full-time salaried community health workers to part-time peer educators and mentor mothers—provide services essential to ensurring continuum of care, combating stigma and…