Community Health Workers Case Study

The shortage of human health resource in particular high-skilled health workers becomes a common problem observed in many countries particularly in which with resource-constraint settings. The situation affects the healthcare service delivery and national health system function given both health workforce and health service delivery are vital fundamental blocks in national health system. The community health workers (CHWs) have been recognised to be one of alternatives in tackling the problem of scarce human resources in healthcare and this strategy has been implemented in many countries since several decades ago. However, the important roles of CHWs are often taken for granted without realising their involvement in the advancement of population-wide

Moreover, they can work on an entirely voluntary basis or be entitled to salary or incentives (Perry & Zulliger, 2012). CHWs are also identified by various name such as village health workers, lay health workers, cadres

In terms of healthcare provision through CHWs, task shifting affords an opportunity to increase the quantity of provided healthcare services at a given cost or the provision of same level of health services at lower cost alternatively (Fulton et al., 2011). Additionally, the allocation of health resource such as CHWs’ may contribute to improve allocative efficiency given their notable role in addressing upstream causes of ill-health with a consequent maximisation in community well-being (Palmer & Torgerson,