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

From the 1970s to the 1990s, the WHO, United Nations and other agencies mooted the idea of formally training and recognising community health workers (CHWs) to complement efforts to improve primary healthcare delivery in low and middle income countries. Recently, CHWs have been recognised as important players in the achievement of the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Despite this recognition, little understanding exists in Ghana about the activities of CHWs: who they are; how they are recruited; what they do; level of health policy support; contribution to healthcare delivery and the challenges they face. Based on a rapid scoping review of the existing literature, and our experience working in Ghana, this paper reflects on the role of CHWs in healthcare delivery in Ghana. We argue that CHWs have played critical roles in improving health service delivery and outcomes, including guinea worm eradication, expanded immunisation coverage, maternal and child health, and HIV/AIDS treatment and management. However, these achievements notwithstanding, CHWs face challenges which prevent them from being optimally productive, including capacity problems, neglect by the healthcare system, high attrition rates and inadequate supervision. Policymakers in Ghana therefore need to give increased attention to CHWs, provide remuneration for their activities, create career opportunities and other means of motivations to boost their productivity and sustain gains associated with their activities.