Community health workers in Ghana: the need for greater policy attention

Baatiema, Leonard; Sumah, Anthony Mwinkaara; Tang, Prosper Naazumah; Ganle, John Kuumuori

In Ghana, two complementary types of CHWs are notable. The first category are an informal, poorly trained health service-supporting CHWs. In this category, CHWs are informally a part of the health system, and the health authorities or collaborating development partner (non-governmental organisation, NGO) takes responsibility for their recruitment, training, incentives and/or remuneration. The second strand of CHWs exists where CHWs are representatives of the community and act in the interest of the community. CHWs under this category have no or limited affiliation with the formal healthcare system, and mainly spearhead community-driven preventive health activities. Despite this distinction, we admit that many CHWs might be combining both roles in practice. From our experiences and in our view, a 'hybrid' form of CHWs (a mix of the two categories) can be found in Ghana.