No one should die because they live too far from the nearest doctor. Last Mile Health was founded on this belief, and we aim to provide access to life-saving primary health services to all remote Liberians by training and deploying community health workers (CHWs) who work directly in their own communities.
Robust research demonstrates that CHWs improve access to care, reduce maternal, newborn, and child mortality, improve clinical outcomes for chronic diseases, and prevent disease outbreaks. However the most recent evaluations of national scale CHW programs remain unfavorable. Three studies of CHW scale-up in 2016—Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, and Malawi, funded by the Gates Foundation—documented poor access, quality, and zero impact on mortality. A new standard of delivery is urgently needed for health systems to truly benefit from community health interventions.
To provide solutions for community health programming that can deliver impact, Last Mile Health has partnered with Hope Through Health, Living Goods, Muso, Partners In Health and Possible to assemble and share insights from our implementation experience. Together, we have identified eight design principles that drive programmatic quality, as well as key recommendations for leaders in the field.
To read the full report, including the eight design principles and key recommendations, please click here.
