Providing women-centered maternal health care at the community level

All women deserve respectful, culturally sensitive, women-centered care that takes into account how, where and with whom they want to receive maternal health care. In order to ensure that this happens, health systems must meet women where they are—both literally and figuratively. Community-based approaches can be effective strategies for providing women with the kind of care they want and need in the place they choose. Unfortunately, many health systems do not currently have the capacity or infrastructure to offer high quality maternal health care at the community level. Doing so requires a strong, well-trained health workforce, efficient referral and transport systems and physical infrastructure. Nevertheless, a number of programs have delivered antenatal, intrapartum and postpartum care at the community level. Many of these programs, particularly those implemented in rural areas with severe health worker shortages, have involved task-shifting with the use of community health workers (CHWs). Common roles for CHWs include providing basic maternal and newborn care, distributing essential medicines such as and conducting antenatal and postnatal home visits.