Community Health Worker Training Program

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

• 80% of the population lives on less than $2 per day.
• More than 60% of all children under the age of five are malnourished or have anemia.
• One in 11 children dies before reaching the age of five.
• Preventable and treatable diseases, illnesses, and conditions, including malnutrition, cause the majority of those deaths.
• For many people in rural Haiti, the nearest health post or clinic can be an eight- to ten hour walk down treacherous mountain paths.
• Community health workers (CHWs) are their only source of readily accessible and affordable health care.

Trained CHWs provide vital health services in their rural, remote communities by preventing and treating disease, illness, and malnutrition.

• CHWs can prevent or treat 80% of the illnesses and diseases in their communities without the need for additional medical care.
• Community health workers in Haiti typically serve the year-round health promotion and healthcare needs of 100 or more families (an average of 700 individuals).

Global Health Action has been training community health workers in Haiti since 1982.

• CHWs are generally selected and recommended by the communities where they live and return after training to serve at home.
• They receive eight weeks of training in basic health care and health promotion, covering sanitation, nutrition, family planning, first aid, diarrhea, malaria, tuberculosis, STIs, HIV/AIDS, immunizations, medications, record keeping, and other community health issues.
• In between training weeks, participants work at home, practicing newly learned skills.
• At graduation, each CHW receives a health bag with an initial stock of medical supplies and medications for common illnesses and diseases.
• When they return to restock their bags, they receive continuing education from the local GHA staff.
• Site visits and follow-up evaluations are important parts of the program.
• To date, more than 1,200 CHWs from different regions of Haiti have graduated from the Program and serve in their remote, rural communities.