Community Health
Championing countries’ efforts to extend the reach and range of their community health services
Strong community health systems are essential for meeting malaria and child health goals and for achieving PMI’s strategic objectives. Community health workers (CHWs) have demonstrated the ability to provide testing and treatment for malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia, and other childhood diseases. They make lifesaving care accessible to millions of people—an equity-based, proven approach for reducing child mortality. CHWs also play an active role in case follow-up and investigation in elimination settings.
PMI has supported countries in their journeys to scale up community case management since its launch, investing millions every year in community health worker training, supervision, and supplies. Despite these investments, major challenges remain in maintaining a well-supported, equipped, and fairly compensated community health workforce.
Coordinating with counterparts within and outside the U.S. government, PMI champions national efforts extend the reach and range of community health services and to finance, professionalize, and institutionalize community health worker programs as an integral part of the formal health system:
- PMI scales up community-based models of care that go further to reach the unreached with malaria testing and treatment. These approaches will vary according to the local context and may include the expansion of malaria community case management beyond young children to include patients of all ages and proactive visits by community health workers to bring testing and treatment to the household.
- PMI catalyzes funder and host-government investment, through both advocacy and provision of direct support of payment for community health workers for the first time, in these essential cadres and work to abolish the pay gap for women working on the frontlines.
- PMI invests in supply chains, protective equipment, training, supervision, and regular communication between community health workers and clinic staff.
- PMI strengthens health management information systems to collect disaggregated community-level data for use by CHWs and at all levels of the health systems.
Stories From the Field
Cambodian Village Workers Increase Access to Quality and Timely Malaria Diagnosis and Treatment for Vulnerable Forest Workers
“Outreach activities are really necessary as they enable forest workers to access malaria diagnosis and treatment on time. I suggest continuing this activity, because I have seen many people who work in the forest infected [...]
Community Health Workers Chase Out Malaria in Uganda
Bukinda village members receive training from Pharaoh on how to prevent malaria transmission in their homes. Kasyonga Pharaoh is a 29-year-old voluntary community health worker with almost a decade of experience in Bukinda, a [...]
Community Health Volunteers Combat Malaria in Madagascar
A community health volunteer (CHV) with the USAID Mikolo Project - part of the frontline of malaria elimination in Madagascar. The entire population of Madagascar is at risk for malaria, and severe malaria [...]
Community Health Workers Serve as Lifelines to Malaria Services
Adriano Banda, headman of Kalinde village in Katete District, Zambia, is also a community health worker and malaria volunteer Adrian Banda, 32 years old, carries the weight of his world on his shoulders. [...]
