Support Needed For Community Health Workers to Improve Access to Care

Lessons from three CHW programmes in South Africa

Community health worker (CHW) programmes strive to improve access to care. As the interface between health systems and communities, they provide outreach services and help households to overcome barriers to care such as lack of access to transport, clean water, sanitation and nutrition, which relate to the social determinants of health. While there is growing evidence that CHWs can help to improve certain health outcomes, research suggests that programmes often fail because of lack of support and skills . Click here for the full policy brief.