Background
For over 300 years many communities around the world have been utilizing lay health workers as a source of regular health care services in the absence of trained medical professionals. The 1978 the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Declaration of Alma-Ataemphasized the use of community health workers (CHWs) as a key strategy for the delivery of basic health care services. CHWs are distinguished from other health professionals because they are hired primarily for their understanding of the populations and communities they serve, conduct outreach a significant portion of the time playing multiple roles, and have experience in providing services in community settings. In the USA, formal participation of trained workers in this role has been documented since the 1950s. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, CHWs were experimentally utilized in some of the low-income communities as a model of intervention for disease prevention and health education. Within this model, individuals...
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Suggested Readings
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Suggested Resources
Community Health Worker Training and Certification Program website, Part of the Office of Title V and Family Health. Retrieved May 10, 2010, from Texas Department of State Health Services Website: http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/chpr/chw/default.shtm
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Urrutia-Rojas, X., Luna-Hollen, M. (2012). Community Health Workers. In: Loue, S., Sajatovic, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Immigrant Health. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5659-0_166
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5659-0_166
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