TY - JOUR T1 - Prioritising the role of community health workers in the COVID-19 response JF - BMJ Global Health JO - BMJ Global Health DO - 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-002550 VL - 5 IS - 6 SP - e002550 AU - Madeleine Ballard AU - Emily Bancroft AU - Josh Nesbit AU - Ari Johnson AU - Isaac Holeman AU - Jennifer Foth AU - Debbie Rogers AU - Jane Yang AU - James Nardella AU - Helen Olsen AU - Mallika Raghavan AU - Raj Panjabi AU - Rebecca Alban AU - Serah Malaba AU - Molly Christiansen AU - Stephanie Rapp AU - Jennifer Schechter AU - Patrick Aylward AU - Ash Rogers AU - Jacques Sebisaho AU - Clarise Ako AU - Nandini Choudhury AU - Carey Westgate AU - Julius Mbeya AU - Ryan Schwarz AU - Matthew H Bonds AU - Rehan Adamjee AU - Julia Bishop AU - Amanda Yembrick AU - David Flood AU - Meg McLaughlin AU - Daniel Palazuelos Y1 - 2020/06/01 UR - http://gh.bmj.com/content/5/6/e002550.abstract N2 - COVID-19 disproportionately affects the poor and vulnerable. Community health workers are poised to play a pivotal role in fighting the pandemic, especially in countries with less resilient health systems. Drawing from practitioner expertise across four WHO regions, this article outlines the targeted actions needed at different stages of the pandemic to achieve the following goals: (1) PROTECT healthcare workers, (2) INTERRUPT the virus, (3) MAINTAIN existing healthcare services while surging their capacity, and (4) SHIELD the most vulnerable from socioeconomic shocks. While decisive action must be taken now to blunt the impact of the pandemic in countries likely to be hit the hardest, many of the investments in the supply chain, compensation, dedicated supervision, continuous training and performance management necessary for rapid community response in a pandemic are the same as those required to achieve universal healthcare and prevent the next epidemic. ER -