The Place and Role of Community Health Workers in Achieving Universal Health Coverage

Community health workers provide essential healthcare at a local level, but their status and funding are uneven, often sitting outside the official health system. Momentum is building and the case is being made to formalize and fund these essential health service providers as part of national and sub-national health systems throughout many low- and middle-resource countries.

Health officials from nine West African Francophone countries joined regional representatives of the World Health Organization, the West Africa Health Organization, UNFPA, and USAID to review the status of CHWs in the region and make recommendations for formal health system integration at a high-level meeting in Lomé, Togo, in September 2019. Community health workers in Togo, who dispense contraceptives, malaria nets, and more, shared challenges faced as front-line health workers and made recommendations to strengthen the cadre’s capacity and improve equitable access to health services. 

This video captures the voices of the delegates.

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