Community health workers in South Africa

International experience has shown that CHWs can make a valuable contribution to improving basic health status in poor communities. However, the nature of their role in South Africa's Primary Health Care (PHC) system has yet to be defined. The development of CHW programmes will be facilitated by the move towards a district-based health system (DHS). However, the message from other countries is that there must be clarity on the status and role of these front-line health workers for them to achieve their full potential.