The Ministry of Health is set to reduce the number of Community Health Workers (CHWs) from 58,567 to 35,000 in rural areas.

The reduction comes in place due to new reforms that the ministry is carrying out in community health based on a study that was carried in the last five years.

The program which brings in new health services to be provided by CHWs like HIV, Mental Health Non-Communicable diseases and first aid among others will start this fiscal year.

The Minister of Health Daniel Ngamije said that "in most cases we have Community health workers who are 60 and above and can’t perform well, recruiting people in the age of 21 to 45 will ease service delivery."

Ngamije added that the government needs a new generation of CHW since there is a plan to digitalize the day-to-day work of CHWs, train and equip them with integrated skills to provide a full package health service

"That’s why we had reform because the study provides clear guidance on the structure of CHWs at village level as well as recruitment criteria of new health workers considering their motivation, retention and remuneration ” he said.

Theopista Kabuteni, the Technical Officer for Reproductive Maternal NewBorn and Child Health at the World Health Organization said that CHWs globally contribute to delivery of health services and improving access to health services onwards universal health coverage.

"We are looking at different options for CHWs, for example the interventions they can be willing to offer and how do we capacitate them to be able to deliver the intended services to improve access to the communities.”