Bringing Community Healthcare to the People
There is an urgent challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa: people are dying from treatable illnesses like malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhea. The traditional model is that families find their way to a…
About the Organization
Despite indisputable evidence showing that community health workers (CHWs) dramatically improve health outcomes and save lives worldwide, millions remain unintegrated in the formal health care system. The result? Millions of CHWs – 70% of whom are women – are not salaried, skilled, supervised or supplied. Despite decades of global health investment, one billion people will never see a health worker.
Community Health Impact Coalition (CHIC) is a global movement of thousands of CHWs and health organizations advocating for governments to pay, support, supervise, and equip community health workers so they can deliver quality health care. The Coalition uses targeted research to inform norm-setters and policymakers, advocacy to influence global financing institutions, and activation of in-country CHW networks to win national policy.
Community health workers play an instrumental role in providing primary health care to millions of people around the world.
Ambition for Change
CHIC’s goal is to make it the norm worldwide for community health workers to be salaried, skilled, supervised, and supplied. By using radical collaboration through sharing intellectual property with members and allies, the coalition is able to influence guidelines, funding, and policy on a global scale.
Path to Scale
Through CHIC’s work, community health workers are now part of the agenda in policy-making spaces, including at the World Health Organization (WHO). Through continued coalition-building, research, and advocacy, CHIC aims to expand the number of countries with pro-CHW policies from 43 to 95 countries—representing a critical mass of countries committed to achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Skoll Awardee
Community Health Impact Coalition is made up of thousands of community health workers and dozens of global health organizations in 60+ countries across five WHO regions. As a nonprofit system orchestrator, the coalition is focused on achieving systems change rather than scaling up or acknowledging an individual organization. Members of the coalition share their intellectual property, make it public, and learn from each other—leading to greater influence and faster scale.
Dr. Madeleine Ballard is the CEO of the Community Health Impact Coalition.
Impact & Accomplishments
- CHIC’s work was fundamental to enacting landmark 2018 WHO guidelines that include 7 of 8 pro-CHW best practices. These guidelines shape CHW-supportive policies in 194 countries.
- CHIC helped secure landmark policy changes at three of the largest and most important global health financing institutions: the Global Fund, PEPFAR, and PMI.
- More than 12,000 CHWs have completed CHIC’s advocacy course and are creating affinity groups to influence policy debates at national and international levels.
- The organization’s advocacy has contributed to nearly 40 countries now accrediting and providing salaries to CHWs.
Affiliated
Prossy Muyingo
Community Health Worker, Community Health Impact CoalitionAlexander Wheeler
Development Lead, Community Health Impact CoalitionLennie Kyomuhangi Bazira
Health Economist, Community Health Impact CoalitionIn the News
‘Only God Can Thank You’: Female Health Workers Fight to Be Paid
New York Times, Sept 21, 2023India’s Public Health Depends on Private Exploitation
Foreign Policy, Sept 14, 2023One term to transform: universal health coverage through professional community health workers
The Lancet, Dec 11, 2024HIV crashed her life. She found her way back to joy — and spoke at the U.N. this week
NPR, Sept 23, 2022Compensating Community Health Workers
Project Syndicate, Oct 17, 2023
Follow @join_chic
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