Lay health workers have no formal professional education, but they are usually provided with job-related training. They can be involved in either paid or voluntary care. They perform diverse functions related to health care delivery and a range of terms are used to describe them including village health workers, community volunteers and peer counselors among others. Growing concern regarding the human resource crisis in health care has renewed interest in the roles that lay health workers may play in primary and community care delivery.  This summary is based on a 2006 update of a Cochrane systematic review published in 2005 by Lewin et al. The summary focuses on the effects of lay health worker interventions in improving maternal and child health. The objective is to assess the effects of lay health worker (LHW) interventions in improving maternal and child health in low and middle-income countries.

 Xavier Bosch, Simon Lewin, Luis Gabriel, et al ; August 2008