From the community, for the community: Strengthening community workforces for resilient public health systems

Regional forum in Colombo advances efforts to institutionalize community health workforces (CHWs)—not only for emergencies, but as an integral part of public health systems.

When a public health emergency strikes, health needs emerge first and foremost among communities, to which the health system must respond rapidly.

CHWs, including C, volunteers, and personnel of community-based and civil society organizations, are uniquely positioned to provide direct and immediate support at the grassroots level during these times even before the wider health system can respond. They understand local contexts, have established relationships with communities, and can help connect people with essential health services and reinforce public health interventions.

But their contribution should neither begin nor end with an emergency. CHWs need to be recognized and supported as an integral part of routine public health and primary health care, not simply as a workforce that can be mobilized during crises.

This is at the heart of the fourth Annual Regional Forum on Community Engagement and Resilience of the World Health Organization (WHO) South-East Asia Region, which took place in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 26 to 28 August 2026. Co-organized by the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Centers of Excellence in Bangkok and Amman, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Asia Pacific Regional Office, the 2026 forum brought together representatives from ministries of health, the three levels of WHO, UNICEF, IFRC and other key regional and global partners, such as the World Bank and Resolve to Save Lives, to discuss and agree on the ways forward to strengthen and institutionalize the engagement of CHWs for localized public health emergency management and advance health system resilience. 

Strengthening CHWs, advancing community resilience

A resilient health system is not built during a crisis. It is built through the systems, institutions, relationships, and capacities that are in place long before one occurs.

Moving from ad hoc engagement towards sustained institutionalization requires investment across these systems. As Dr Rajesh Sambhajirao Pandav, WHO Representative in Sri Lanka, told participants during the opening ceremony on behalf of Dr Nilesh Buddha, Officer-in-Charge of the WHO South-East Asia Regional Office: