Community health workers

Key resource

Global Experience of Community Health Workers for Delivery of Health Related Millennium Development Goals: A Systematic Review, Country Case Studies, and Recommendations for Integration into National Health Systems

This report is the result of a the global systematic review conducted by the Alliance in April 2010. The report focuses on key aspects of CHW programs, encompassing typology of CHWs, selection, training, supervision, standards for evaluation and certification, deployment pat­terns, in-service training, performance, and impact assessment.

Community Health Workers - Key messages

Series of key messages developed by a group of experts convened by the Alliance in April 2010. These key messages were identified around the following three areas: the planning, production and deployment; attraction and retention; and performance management of CHW.

Scaling-up the Community-Based Health Workforce for Emergencies

This Joint Statement was developed by the Global Health Workforce Alliance together with the WHO, IFRC, UNHCR, UNICEF and WHO. It aims at drawing attention to the vital role played by CHWs in emergency risk management; promoting the scale-up, training and involvement of CHWs; and reinforcing the community-based health workforce.

Related knowledge products

Planning, production and deployment of CHWs:

• Community-driven interventions can revolutionise control of neglected tropical diseases
  Article published in “Trends in Parasitology”, 12 April 2012
  1 May 2012
• The effects of midwives' job satisfaction on burnout, intention to quit and turnover: a longitudinal study in Senegal
  Article published in Human Resources for Health 2012, 10:9 (30 April 2012)
  1 May 2012
• Human resources for mental health care: current situation and strategies for action
  This is the fifth in a Series of six papers about global mental health
  1 December 2011
• Lay health worker attrition: important but often ignored
  World Health Organization Bulletin vol. 89, December 2011
  1 December 2011
• Task shifting in HIV/AIDS service delivery: An exploratory study of expert patients in Uganda
  USAID Health Care Improvement Project, Report, 2012
  30 November 2011
• CHW Central
  Interactive web site
  14 June 2011
• Global Experience of Community Health Workers for Delivery of Health Related Millennium Development Goals: A Systematic Review, Country Case Studies, and Recommendations for Integration into National Health Systems
  Alliance document
  14 October 2010
• Bangladesh trains health workers to reduce maternal mortality
  Global Health Workforce Alliance, World Health Organization, Case study
  1 January 2008
• Ethiopia's human resources for health programme
  Global Health Workforce Alliance, World Health Organization, Case study
  1 January 2008
• Ghana: implementing a national human resources for health plan
  Global Health Workforce Alliance, World Health Organization, Case study
  1 January 2008
• Pakistan's Lady Health Worker Programme
  Global Health Workforce Alliance, World Health Organization, Case study
  1 January 2008
• The Health Workforce: Scaling up through primary health care
  Presentation
  1 January 2008
• "Sitting in different chairs:" roles of the community health workers in the Poder es Salud/Power for Health project.
  Article
  1 January 2008
• Annual review of HRH situation in Asia-Pacific region 2006-2007
  Asia Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resources for Health, Health Human Resources Development Center, Ministry of Health, P.R. China, report
  1 January 2006

Attraction and retention of CHWs:

• Community-driven interventions can revolutionise control of neglected tropical diseases
  Article published in “Trends in Parasitology”, 12 April 2012
  1 May 2012
• The effects of midwives' job satisfaction on burnout, intention to quit and turnover: a longitudinal study in Senegal
  Article published in Human Resources for Health 2012, 10:9 (30 April 2012)
  1 May 2012
• Lay health worker attrition: important but often ignored
  World Health Organization Bulletin vol. 89, December 2011
  1 December 2011
• Task shifting in HIV/AIDS service delivery: An exploratory study of expert patients in Uganda
  USAID Health Care Improvement Project, Report, 2012
  30 November 2011
• CHW Central
  Interactive web site
  14 June 2011
• Global Experience of Community Health Workers for Delivery of Health Related Millennium Development Goals: A Systematic Review, Country Case Studies, and Recommendations for Integration into National Health Systems
  Alliance document
  14 October 2010
• The Health Workforce: Scaling up through primary health care
  Presentation
  1 January 2008
• Systems support for task-shifting to community health workers
  Technical brief
  1 January 2007
• Annual review of HRH situation in Asia-Pacific region 2006-2007
  Asia Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resources for Health, Health Human Resources Development Center, Ministry of Health, P.R. China, report
  1 January 2006

Performance management of CHWs:

• Community-driven interventions can revolutionise control of neglected tropical diseases
  Article published in “Trends in Parasitology”, 12 April 2012
  1 May 2012
• The effects of midwives' job satisfaction on burnout, intention to quit and turnover: a longitudinal study in Senegal
  Article published in Human Resources for Health 2012, 10:9 (30 April 2012)
  1 May 2012
• Human resources for mental health care: current situation and strategies for action
  This is the fifth in a Series of six papers about global mental health
  1 December 2011
• Task shifting in HIV/AIDS service delivery: An exploratory study of expert patients in Uganda
  USAID Health Care Improvement Project, Report, 2012
  30 November 2011
• CHW Central
  Interactive web site
  14 June 2011
• Global Experience of Community Health Workers for Delivery of Health Related Millennium Development Goals: A Systematic Review, Country Case Studies, and Recommendations for Integration into National Health Systems
  Alliance document
  14 October 2010
• Searching for common ground on incentive packages for community workers and volunteers in Zambia
  National HIV/AIDS/STI/TB Council, Zambia, Report
  1 January 2009
• Pakistan's Lady Health Worker Programme
  Global Health Workforce Alliance, World Health Organization, Case study
  1 January 2008
• Systems support for task-shifting to community health workers
  Technical brief
  1 January 2007
• Annual review of HRH situation in Asia-Pacific region 2006-2007
  Asia Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resources for Health, Health Human Resources Development Center, Ministry of Health, P.R. China, report
  1 January 2006