Community Health Worker (CHW) Programme
The global policy of providing primary level care was initiated with the 1978 Alma Ata Declaration. The countries signatory to the Declaration considered the establishment of a Community Health Worker (CHW) programme as synonymous with the primary health care (PHC) approach.

Throughout the history of organized health services, community health workers of various types have played an important role in complementing and supporting the services provided by health professionals. However, it was the WHO Alma Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care (PHC) in 1978 that establishes Community Health Workers (CHW’s) as a generic title and defined their role internationally. This Declaration envisaged that CHW’s would contribute to “Health for All” through direct provision of health care, by creating awareness of health services and their value to the community, and by acting as an agent for community development.

The use of community members to render certain basic health services to their communities is a concept that has existed for at least 50 years. There have been innumerable experiences throughout the world with programmes ranging from large-scale, national programmes to small-scale, community-based initiatives.

Community Health Workers have been a part of several government and non government healthcare delivery programmes across the world and have been seen to be effective in the delivery of health care in several studies. Many different versions of the community health worker have been used for health promotion and preventive activities successfully in many parts of the world with different roles that they appropriately played.

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