Framework for Action | Achieving Gender Equity in the Community Health Workforce (original) (raw)

16 recommendations to address the challenges women community health workers face across their careers

There is robust and compelling evidence that community health workers play an essential role in delivering life-saving healthcare globally. But women, who make up 70% of this workforce, face significant gender-based challenges including safety concerns, inadequate pay, and limited career advancement. As over 40 countries in Africa have made commitments to professionalize community health worker cadres, gender-responsive programming and policies are vital to ensure women do not get pushed out and left behind.

The Framework for Action

Integrate Health and Last Mile Health, with nearly 40 years of combined experience in Africa, have partnered to create a framework for action to address the unique challenges women community health workers face throughout their careers. We leveraged global guidelines, research, and input from expert implementers to offer innovative and actionable recommendations.

Our framework for action outlines a comprehensive strategy to address the challenges women community health workers face at every stage of their careers, by:

Recruiting women into the workforce

Retaining women and advancing their careers

Call to Action

While our framework is aimed at community health program implementers, meaningful progress requires coordinated effort from an ecosystem of stakeholders: governments, funders, advocacy coalitions, researchers, and community health workers themselves.

We are looking for partners to help us continue this work. Here are four ways to get involved:

Directly invest in Integrate Health and Last Mile Health to accelerate the implementation of the 16 recommendations

Seek our advice on how to more effectively integrate a gender lens in your organization’s work

Invite our teams, including community health workers, to present this framework and spark conversations about gender and health equity at events and convenings

Champion this framework and share it widely with implementers, funders, and policy makers using our social media toolkit

Investing in women community health workers is essential for driving progress toward the sustainable development goals, including universal health coverage and gender equality. By dismantling barriers that limit women’s potential, implementers, policymakers, governments, and funders can drive lasting social and economic benefits for communities and build resilient health systems.