This program management guide explores some of the key components and lessons learned from designing and implementing CHW programs at PIH-supported sites within national primary healthcare systems. It focuses on operational aspects, including recruitment, compensation and supervision.

This article reviews Iran’s “Health Houses,” which were conceived and introduced during the country’s 1980-1988 war with Iraq. The health houses are run by trained CHWs, called behvarzan, who provide basic health care to most of the country's rural population. Female behvarz are typically responsible for child and maternal health, vaccinations, registration and administering medicines, while male behvarz deal mainly with sanitation and environmental projects. An estimated 90% of Iran's rural population receives health care at its 17,000 health houses from 30,000 CHWs.

This reference book is written primarily for CHWs or other village health workers living far from medical centers, in places where there are no health facilities. It covers basic diagnosis and treatment of a wide array of common conditions. It is written in basic language, and includes lots of visual references, so that people without much formal education can use it; it has been translated into more than 80 languages and used in over 100 countries.

This study examined: (i) whether Zambian CHWs could prepare and interpret RDTs accurately and safely using manufacturer's instructions alone; (ii) whether mostly pictorial instructions (a "job aid") could raise performance; and (iii) whether a brief training program would produce further improvement. The authors found that manufacturers' instructions, like those provided with the RDTs used in this study, are insufficient to ensure safe and accurate use by CHWs. However, well-designed instructions plus training can ensure high performance.

This document provides guidance in the design of systems for community-based distribution (CBD) programs. The guide aims to assist program managers and other stakeholders in designing and implementing stronger and more sustainable supply chains for their CBD programs. The guide is intended to serve as a resource of tools that can be modified and adapted for use by any government or organization that implements CBD programs in any country.

This training manual helps participants develop and use activities at the community level to create a supportive environment for work related male engagement. It provides guidance on discussing HIV and AIDS, gender norms, gender equity and creating community action teams.

This report presents the findings and recommendations of the Global Health Workforce Alliance’s Task Force for Scaling Up and Training for Health Workers, focusing on countries with a health workforce crisis. The report uses evidence from Brazil, Ethiopia,and India on what can and has been done to expand the education and training of health workers quickly and on a national scale, by national governments as well as education and training bodies. The Task Force estimates it would require US $2.6 billion a year to educate and train 1.5 million additional health workers in Africa.

Through its Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) initiative, Ghana has deployed over 300 auxiliary nurses in 53 of the country’s deprived districts. These nurses, who receive two years of training and the title Community Health Officer (CHO), are part of an innovative approach that shifts staff from low-impact static health centers with limited outreach to high-impact mobile community-supported services.

From the World Health Organization: A global consultation of programme managers, policy makers and experts was convened by the Alliance in April 2010 in Montreux, Switzerland, to review the recommendations of a systematic review on Community Health Workers (CHWs), share experiences, and develop broad agreement on key messages for countries to use to integrate CHWs into their national health workforce. Key messages were identified around the following three areas: the planning, production and deployment; attraction and retention; and performance management of CHW.