Community Health Impact Coalition

x.com/SkollFoundatio… We’re excited to share that CHIC has been named a winner of the 2025 Skoll Award for Social Innovation! We are thrilled that this Award is shining a spotlight on our ongoing efforts to support community health workers. Thank you to the @SkollFoundation for amplifying the voices of innovators around the world.

CHWs aren’t a "nice-to-have." They’re core health system infrastructure. Integrated CHW programs can deliver care across entire communities for ~$0.59 per person per year. This #WHWWeek, we’re focusing on what it takes to sustain the workforce we celebrate. ➡️ sbee.link/efkwn8muvt

CHWs bring care to their neighbors’ doorsteps—but millions still lack pay, training, supervision, and supplies. This #WHWWeek, it’s time to move from celebration to financing and integrating #proCHWs into primary care systems: joinchic.org/join-us/

Investing in CHWs means investing in #HealthForAll today and resilient health systems for years to come. #proCHWs are low-cost and high-impact: our best bet in achieving UHC. This #WHWWeek, we call on partners & policymakers to support what works: paid, professional CHWs.

CHW programs are proven to be cost-effective. So why isn’t that translating into decisions to scale them? A new BMJ Global Health study examines gaps in evidence on integrated, horizontal programs — and how to make proCHWs the norm: sbee.link/hnwat74dug

HIV treatment levels held after aid cuts. But the system didn’t. An NPR story shows why: a CHW in Uganda kept supporting patients after losing his salary. The system didn’t absorb the shock. People did. This is why proCHWs matter. Read his story: sbee.link/7c6prgnbux linkinbio

Most of the nearly 5 million CHWs globally are still unpaid. But that’s starting to change—50+ countries are moving toward paid, accredited programs. What’s driving that shift? Collective action. New piece in Stanford Social Innovation Review: sbee.link/my96vubacx

TB is preventable and treatable—yet still widespread. Evidence shows CHW programs can help close the gap, especially when integrated into national systems and focused on early detection and treatment support. 🎥This #WorldTBDay watch below and read the full review: sbee.link/rw7yxmu9kf: sbee.link/rw7yxmu9kf

What would it take to move AI for community health beyond pilots and into systems? At Skoll World Forum this year, CHIC is convening a focused group of actors working at the intersection of AI and community health to tackle that question together. With the session nearly at capacity, a small number of additional places have just been released. If you’re actively building, deploying, funding, or evaluating AI in community health, you can self-nominate here—or share with someone who is. 🔗 sbee.link/ctx4dwkh6u CHIC SWF 2026 AI–CHW Workshop 📍 Oxford Mathematical Institute 🗓 Thursday 23 April 2026 | 1:00–4:30pm (GMT) This working session brings together: – Frontier AI labs – Global health funders – CHW implementers – Ministries, researchers, and technical partners Format: – 3-minute ecosystem insights – Roundtables on system bottlenecks – Alignment on pathways and roles – Targeted matchmaking Important: This is a self-nomination form only. Submitting does not guarantee a place. Participants will be selected to ensure a high-value, balanced group. Deadline: 25 March, 5pm GMT Notifications: 26 March Attendees must be able to join in Oxford. Visa sponsorship is not available.

Meet the panel! Different perspectives. One key question: What do we actually know about investment in Community Health Workers and where are the gaps? Join the discussion and hear what the data says. 📅 March 25 🕒 3:00 PM EAT | 8:00 AM EDT Register: bit.ly/4l6xf2N

When global standards shift, so do expectations. WHO’s Curriculum Guide makes it harder to justify undertrained, unsupervised, unpaid CHWs. The path forward is clearer: invest in a professional, supported workforce. 🔗 sbee.link/pwaq3rydct

Not all CHW programs deliver the same results. Integrated CHW programs consistently outperform fragmented, single-disease models. When we invest in integrated CHWs we don’t just save money. We save lives. We stretch resources. We strengthen systems. ↪️ sbee.link/k7qaejv8pr

What’s shaping the future of community health? Not just technology — but how we support, protect, and invest in the people delivering care. Latest evidence from CHIC’s Research Roundup: sbee.link/dpqb739ytk

What do we actually know about how CHW programs are financed across sub-Saharan Africa? Join this webinar with @FinancingAllian, CHW Central, and @join_chic to explore what current data reveals about CHW investments +why stronger visibility matters for policy and financing decisions. Register: bit.ly/4l6xf2N

When community health work is treated as voluntary labor, it shapes who ends up doing it. As CHW Blanca Flor Rosales Borrego of Peru’s Ministry of Health observes, many men believe unpaid work isn’t worth doing. The result: women often carry the responsibility for community health.

Too often, the responsibility for community health falls on women. CHW Kapinga Rebecca of the DRC MOH describes a reality seen in many communities: women are expected to carry the work of community health yet the work continues with limited resources, training, equipment, and recognition.

Peru just awarded its highest recognition for advancing women’s equality to a CHW, Carmen Rosa Vilela Vargas. Yet the workforce she represents still lacks formal recognition. Across the movement, CHWs like Carmen are advocating to turn recognition into the policies their work demands.

For #IWD2026, Margaret Odera, a lead CHW and advocate from Kenya, shares a simple truth: many women stepped into community health work even when education systems didn’t create pathways for them. They’re still showing up. It’s time to pay and support the workforce behind community health.

“This is a call for change. Enough of volunteer work.” Carmen Vilela Vargas, CHW from Peru. As we mark #IWD2026, her message reflects a reality across global health: millions of women continue to work unpaid or underpaid in CHW roles. “Recognizing our work is not an expense. It is an investment.”

Too often, decisions about CHWs happen without CHWs in the room. As CHW Aboubakare Djariyétou of Togo’s MOH reminds us: realizing health as a human right requires CHWs advocating with leaders to remove financial barriers to care. More about CHW Advocates ➡️ joinchic.org/resources/chw-…

Declaring health a human right is the easy part. Delivering it is harder. As Aaron Jameni, a CHW with Kenya’s Ministry of Health, notes, realizing that right requires strong primary care and proCHWs.