Prioritising the role of community health workers in the COVID-19 response
Open accessAbstract
COVID-19 disproportionately affects the poor and vulnerable. Community health workers are poised to play a pivotal role in fighting the pandemic, especially in countries with less resilient health systems. Drawing from practitioner expertise across four WHO regions, this article outlines the targeted actions needed at different stages of the pandemic to achieve the following goals: (1) PROTECT healthcare workers, (2) INTERRUPT the virus, (3) MAINTAIN existing healthcare services while surging their capacity, and (4) SHIELD the most vulnerable from socioeconomic shocks. While decisive action must be taken now to blunt the impact of the pandemic in countries likely to be hit the hardest, many of the investments in the supply chain, compensation, dedicated supervision, continuous training and performance management necessary for rapid community response in a pandemic are the same as those required to achieve universal healthcare and prevent the next epidemic.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has made clear the need for health workers on the ground who can visit homes to provide education about COVID-19, assist in identifying cases and tracing contacts, link cases to treatment, and support vaccination.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has made very clear the need for health workers on the ground who can visit homes to provide education about COVID-19, assist in identifying cases and tracing contacts, linking cases to treatment, and supporting vaccination [26].”
From Community health workers at the dawn of a new era: 11. CHWs leading the way to “Health for All” (2021) · cites this paper as [26]
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- Authors
- Ballard, M., Bancroft, E., Nesbit, J., Johnson, A., Holeman, I., Foth, J., Rogers, D., Yang, J., Nardella, J., Olsen, H., Raghavan, M., Panjabi, R., Alban, R., Malaba, S., Christiansen, M., Rapp, S., Schechter, J., Aylward, P., Rogers, A., Sebisaho, J., Ako, C., Choudhury, N., Westgate, C., Mbeya, J., Schwarz, R., Bonds, M. H., Adamjee, R., Bishop, J., Yembrick, A., Flood, D., McLaughlin, M., & Palazuelos, D.
- Affiliations
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (US)
- VillageReach (US)
- Medic Mobile, San Francisco, California, USA
- University of California, San Francisco (US)
- University of Washington (US)
- Living Goods, Nairobi, Kenya
- Praekelt Foundation (ZA)
- Muso, Bamako, Mali
- Last Mile Health, Monrovia, Liberia
- Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
- Integrate Health, Lome, Togo
- Lwala Community Alliance, Rongo, Kenya
- Amani Global Works, Idjwi Island, Congo
- Possible Health (US)
- Community Health Impact Coalition, New York, New York, USA
- Harvard University (US)
- Vital Pakistan Trust (PK)
- One to One Africa, Cape Town, South Africa
- University of Michigan (US)
- THINKMD, Burlington, Vermont, USA
- Corresponding author
- Ballard, Madeleine
- ORCID
- Venue
- BMJ Global Health
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Published
- 2020-06
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- e002550
- ISSN
- 2059-7908 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7298684
- OpenAlex
- W3033554322
- Cited by
- 395
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2026: 25 · 2025: 30 · 2024: 40 · 2023: 49 · 2022: 76 · 2021: 61 · 2020: 114
- FWCI
- 78.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- BMJ Global Health (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Funders
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (P30DK092926)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare Systems and Challenges
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Emergency Medical Services › Global Health Workforce Issues
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Public Health Policies and Education
- Keywords
- community health workers, COVID-19 pandemic response, health system resilience, vulnerable populations, pandemic preparedness, universal health coverage
- MeSH terms
- Personal Protective Equipment, COVID-19, Community Health Workers, Delivery of Health Care, Disease Outbreaks, Humans, Pneumonia, Viral, World Health Organization, Infection Control, Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional, Coronavirus Infections, Pandemics
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