Where to from here? Policy and financing of integrated community case management (iCCM) of childhood illness in sub–Saharan Africa

Integrated community case management of childhood illness (iCCM) is a strategy to equip, train, support and supervise community health workers (CHWs) to assess children and deliver curative interventions in communities [1]. In particular, iCCM includes the delivery of amoxicillin (with use of respiratory timers) for pneumonia, oral rehydration salts and zinc for diarrhoea, and rapid diagnostic tests and artemisinin–based combination therapy for malaria. iCCM may also include screening, referral and treatment for malnutrition, and of newborns with illness. A “community health worker” (CHW) in this context is a health worker that provides health care in the community, with some training in the interventions they deliver (and who may or may not receive monetary payment), but who does not have a formal health professional or paraprofessional certificate or tertiary education degree.