What do we know about community health workers? A systematic review of existing reviews

Overview

Community health workers (CHWs) are health care providers who live in the community they serve and receive lower levels of formal education and training than professional health care workers such as nurses and doctors. This human resource group has enormous potential to extend health care services to vulnerable populations, such as communities living in remote areas and historically marginalized people, to meet unmet health needs in a culturally appropriate manner, improve access to services, address inequities in health status and improve health system performance and efficiency.