In virtually every community in our country, it is often the work of a Community Health Worker (CHW) that unlocks the potential for a child, a family, a senior, a farmworker, and millions of others, to access a healthy life. This study isn’t meant to be another generalized, awareness-raising gesture for CHWs. It’s meant to spotlight where CHWs are effectively integrated into their communities while being paid in sustainable ways so these models can continue to be funded and expanded.
Our teams at Sanofi, NationSwell, Atlas Clarity, and NACHW saw a gap, a story to tell. We embarked on a collaborative journey to seek these models of CHW partnership and integration, with our differing perspectives and burning questions.
We asked: What works in communities? What works for CHWs? How might funders, partners, and governments—each of us—better support CHWs while also honoring the self-determination of this unique workforce? And we curated our findings, with replicable examples and insights to build on.
In this report, we’ve laid out what we heard and what we believe are some of the best actions you can take for improved community health powered by CHWs who are sustainably paid for their work, and we’re looking forward to using this tool as a springboard for discussion across sectors. Appreciation to all CHW and non-CHW contributors for sharing their knowledge and stories.
