the role of lay health workers Lay or community workers can be a
valuable resource in response to the human resource crisis in
many low- and middle-income countries. Successful interventions
by lay health workers have led to improvements in maternal and
child health, including reductions in mortality and morbidity
from common childhood illnesses, and effective support to people
receiving treatment for tuberculosis. Simon Lewin and Claire
Glenton of the LAYVAC (Lay health workers for vaccination)
Project Group give more of the story. Thirty years after the
Alma-Ata Declaration, the World Health Organization (WHO) and a
wide range of other agencies are calling for the revitalisation
and reinvigoration of the primary health care approach. A key
component of primary health care as envisaged at Alma-Ata is the
lay or community health worker (LHW). The 1970s saw the rapid
expansion of many LHW programmes in low- and middle-income
settings. For example, the Auxiliares de Medicina Simplificada
(Simplified Medicine Au