Community Health Committees (COMM) Technical brief

COMM or Community Health Committees is a project model developed by World Vision which involves the capacity building and empowerment of local health committees to coordinate activities leading to (1) increased community capacity, (2) improved health policy and service environment and (3) support of CHW programmes, which, taken together, lead to strengthened community health systems and positive health outcomes.

The COMM model may be carried out through CHCs, HFMCs or other appropriately identified community health groups. CHCs around the world are typically embedded in the community and carry out their work there, are comprised of membership almost exclusively from within the community, and may or may not have a strong formal link with the health facility and the MoH at large. Their roles and responsibilities generally relate to identifying and addressing health issues within the community and supporting CHWs and/or other volunteer health cadres. They may also be involved in actions of a social accountability nature, raising issues regarding health service performance. 

In this technical brief we describe the key principles of the approach.