We agree with the Editorial (May, 2017)¹ that stated “community health workers are desperately needed globally” but “often still stand…at the fringes of the health system, undefined and unsupported and therefore unable to completely fulfil their potential”.¹ As the 40th anniversary of the Alma Ata Declaration approaches,² it is time to appropriately recognise the role and potential of community health systems. Further to the recent momentum highlighted,¹ we would add the lessons learned from the West Africa Ebola outbreak about the importance of community health systems³ and the election of a WHO Director-General with direct experience in expanding Ethiopia's community level workforce.

中文翻译：

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社区卫生系统：允许社区卫生工作者摆脱阴影

我们同意社论（2017年5月）^1的说法，即“全球急需社区卫生工作者”，但“通常仍然……处于卫生系统的边缘，没有得到定义和支持，因此无法完全发挥其潜力”。¹随着《阿拉木图宣言》四十周年的临近，²现在是时候适当认识到社区卫生系统的作用和潜力了。另外近期势头突出，¹，我们将增加从西非埃博拉对社区卫生系统的重要性，学到的教训³和世卫组织总干事与扩大埃塞俄比亚的社区工作人员直接经验选举。