Community Health Workers: The Line of First Defense
Setup
Community health workers bring lifesaving care to hard-to-reach locations. More than one billion people inhabit areas so remote that they lack any access to healthcare, but not too remote to trigger fast-moving epidemics. Enter community health workers, who can detect disease outbreaks, identify malnutrition and malaria, and provide basic primary care. Once operating largely alone, these practitioners are now connecting through online platforms and learning communities to become a global movement.
Explore More
Health
![Gettyimages 1488043800](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/4f1048e8-0b45-4e5c-ab68-b59fdc805164/GettyImages-1488043800.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=0a80bc&q=80&rect=2240%2C0%2C4480%2C4480&w=400)
![Gettyimages 1488043800](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/4f1048e8-0b45-4e5c-ab68-b59fdc805164/GettyImages-1488043800.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=2240%2C0%2C4480%2C4480&w=400)
Conflict and suffering can bring out the worst in people, but it can also bring out the best. This is one of the lessons New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has learned...
![Aif Stock Hero Images](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/d53c86d8-a116-4261-8468-bf005c53bca1/AIFStockHeroImages.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=ab287a&q=80&rect=1453%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
![Aif Stock Hero Images](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/d53c86d8-a116-4261-8468-bf005c53bca1/AIFStockHeroImages.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=1453%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
The federal right to abortions in the United States has been overturned, access to contraception and IVF services are threatened in many states, and the gender wage gap persis...
![10 Newsmaking Conversations from Aspen Ideas: Health 2024](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/58daefc2-333d-4d2e-b5b1-8ca0d98462be/240620_reception_001.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=267&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C4000%2C2667&w=400)
From the debate over reproductive rights to the epidemic of gun violence to the youth mental health crisis, this year's Aspen Ideas: Health sessions tackled many of today's mo...
![Roots and Revelations](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/9a7290c3-c71d-4303-979a-7b49449a77c4/53824082684_f2a441a5d7_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C312%2C6000%2C3375&w=400)
Henry Louis Gates Jr. — one of America’s leading public intellectuals and director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard — explains the i...
![In Defense of Misfits: The Transcendence of an Unconventional Life](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/87df6db6-1f1f-4b05-95dd-118770600fd1/53823661837_0b1ee54615_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=600&q=80&rect=2581%2C0%2C3093%2C4639&w=400)
A nonbinary comedian challenges us to question our notions of self, gender and society, and opens our eyes to what we may gain in the process.
![Supercommunicators: The Science of Conversation and Connection](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/4439f33b-44f3-4ce3-918c-6b7713b6017a/53825026550_67fcc31319_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=18%2C0%2C1562%2C879&w=400)
Why do some conversations succeed while others stumble? The neurology and psychology of communication offer surprising explanations for why human connection goes right or wron...
![Does American Capitalism Still Work?](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/6ddc1a5b-c983-41dc-9fdf-c50d8411fce7/53823880878_647f9e3767_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C242%2C4650%2C2616&w=400)
In a time of growing wealth disparity and evolving societal values, can capitalism adapt to sustain the American Dream?
![Women Investing in Women](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/29942e24-e2ab-4f83-94d2-b907fbaf4615/53823873613_23991edd49_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C1453%2C3100%2C1744&w=400)
Women are twice as likely to invest in female-led businesses. Explore the ways women approach wealth building and investment, and how they create opportunities to build financ...
![Are American Women Going Backwards?](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/a4f70e43-9976-4d6c-936d-6ffb4f1b3993/53824046585_143bcae259_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=600&q=80&rect=180%2C0%2C2062%2C3101&w=400)
The rollback of reproductive rights, the push to end no-fault divorce, and gun laws that allow domestic abusers to own a firearm are turning the clock back on women’s rights....
![Ford’s CEO on EVs and Driving Into the Future](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/08b088f4-4719-4c3b-9330-be6ac4ff123a/fordceo.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C297%2C5632%2C3168&w=400)
Join Jim Farley as he explores how drivers' needs and priorities are guiding the future of vehicle technology and reshaping our expectations of cars and trucks.
![Pushback: The Perils (and Power) of Corporate Commitments](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/4740a973-6c0d-4f57-9c35-796fdd369fa2/53823862693_2b19d6cc7e_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C1453%2C3100%2C1744&w=400)
With ESG caught in the political culture wars, business executives must decide to speak up or stay quiet about climate, diversity and democracy. What do employees and citizens...
![Navigating Tomorrow’s Economy (Part 1 and Part 2)](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/6174eb00-1e5e-4da8-acfb-8b85be903d4b/53822186869_5287ac99ed_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C312%2C6000%2C3375&w=400)
![Forgiveness in Times of Turmoil (podcast recording)](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/6a39dfbb-1abd-4ee5-9416-2290484c22f4/53823968189_21a4f4f910_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=600&q=80&rect=1292%2C0%2C2067%2C3100&w=400)
As the stakes of political confrontation have escalated, the issue of forgiveness is complicated. Should one ever hold the line rather than look for avenues of reconciliation,...
![Choosing Our Families](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/3812d6cd-ff04-4feb-b0a9-ab271b9c5849/53823337075_48dbca4089_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C430%2C8256%2C4644&w=400)
Marriage rates have been decreasing for decades, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t finding new ways to create family ties that bind. Family bonds in the LGBTQ community and...
![King of the Deal](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/6ae1f900-5437-49d6-b9b1-b2a8d361dd92/53823958184_0494f8c2a2_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C242%2C4650%2C2616&w=400)
From one of the highest perches in the entertainment industry, the CEO of sports and entertainment behemoths Endeavor and TKO takes us on a journey of leadership and leverage....
![The African Century](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/bdb124db-886c-4221-854e-1e6893bfb3be/53824085325_aa02dd6d1f_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C1453%2C3100%2C1744&w=400)
Africa is a rising giant. By 2050, one in four people on the planet will be African, and by 2060, Africa will have the largest labor force in the world. A former Nigerian pres...
![A Vision for Tech Equity](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/d6b710dc-4837-4bae-aedc-b17d43cbe3ee/techequity.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=600&q=80&rect=2581%2C0%2C3093%2C4639&w=400)
The innovative philanthropist who paid off the student debt of the entire graduating class of Morehouse College class of 2019 talks about how to ensure all communities benefit...
![The Iconoclast](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/32220310-b38a-40d9-b373-6fb5dbb0b1e9/53820643279_96e2c83e4f_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C302%2C5790%2C3257&w=400)
Peter Thiel has made no secret of his feelings about economic and cultural issues. Hear him discuss his vision for the future, his bets on AI and digital currencies, his thoug...
![Does Philanthropy Need a Course Correction?](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/c2625980-db3e-4b07-892d-fe5e8f98d61e/53819193282_a149fff465_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C293%2C5863%2C3298&w=400)
The racial reckoning of 2020 called for new models of philanthropy, but four years later there is strong political and social opposition to philanthropic investment in equitab...
![The Crisis in Trust](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/02f10f22-5fd4-4b5c-99c3-d3e2502bdf52/53821399919_115686be5a_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C4651%2C2618&w=400)
In a time of widespread suspicion and cynicism, everyone has a role to play in strengthening social trust and building bridges. How can individuals and organizations work toge...