Community health workers (CHWs) have provided primary health services all over the world for several decades, and evidence shows that they can add significantly to the efforts of improving the health of the population, particularly in those settings with the highest shortage of motivated and capable health professionals.
With the aim of identifying CHWs programs with positive impact on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) related to health or otherwise, a global systematic review was undertaken of such interventions, as well as eight in-depth country case studies in Sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia Mozambique and Uganda), South East Asia (Bangladesh, Pakistan and Thailand) and Latin America (Brazil and Haiti). The review focused on key aspects of these programs, encompassing typology of CHWs, selection, training, supervision, standards for evaluation and certification, deployment pat­terns, in-service training, performance, and impact assessment.