Community Health Workers in Brazil’s Unified Health System: A Framework of their Praxis and Contributions to Patient Health Behaviors

Authors: Rogério M. Pinto, Sueli Bulhões da Silva, and Rafaela Soriano

Community Health Workers (CHWs) play a pivotal role in primary care, serving as liaisons between community members and medical providers. However, the growing reliance of health care systems worldwide on CHWs has outpaced research explaining their praxis – how they combine indigenous and technical knowledge, overcome challenges and impact patient outcomes. This paper thus articulates the CHW Praxis and Patient Health Behavior Framework. Such a framework is needed to advance research on CHW impact on patient outcomes and to advance CHW training.Training for CHWs can explicitly integrate indigenous and technical knowledge in order for CHWs to overcome contextual challenges and enhance service delivery.