Table 1.

Effective interventions for maternal, newborn and child health that can be provided by community health workers in the community or at a health post [21–23]

Point in continuum of care
Pregnancy	Delivery (normal)	Postpartum (woman)	Postpartum (newborn)	Child
Preparation for safe birth and newborn care; emergency planning	Management of labor and delivery and referral of complications	Promotion of breastfeeding	Neonatal resuscitation	Promote breastfeeding and complementary feeding
Micronutrient supplementation*			Breastfeeding	Provide vitamin A, zinc, and food supplementation
Nutrition education			Thermal care for preterm newborns	Immunizations
Intermittent preventive treatment of malaria during pregnancy)			Promote care–seeking	Co–trimoxazole for HIV–positive children
Food supplementation			Assess for danger signs and refer	Education on safe disposal of children’s stools and handwashing
Promotion of HIV testing			Oral antibiotics for pneumonia	Distribute and promote use of ITNs† or IRS‡, or both
				Assess for danger signs and refer
				Detect and refer children with severe acute malnutrition
				Detect and treat serious infections without danger signs (iCCM§), refer if danger signs present

*Because of some evidence of risk and gaps in the evidence, the WHO does not at this time recommend multiple micronutrient supplementation for pregnant women to improve maternal and perinatal outcomes [24].

†Insecticide–treated bednet.

‡Indoor residual spraying.

§Integrated community case management (the components include treatments for diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria).