title: Improving health equity: the promising role of community health workers in Canada.
abstract: This article reports findings from an applied case study of collaboration between a community-based organization staffed by community health workers/multicultural health brokers (CHWs/MCHBs) serving immigrants and refugees and a local public health unit in Alberta, Canada. In this study, we explored the challenges, successes and unrealized potential of CHWs/MCHBs in facilitating culturally responsive access to healthcare and other social services for new immigrants and refugees. We suggest that health equity for marginalized populations such as new immigrants and refugees could be improved by increasing the role of CHWs in population health programs in Canada. Furthermore, we propose that recognition by health and social care agencies and institutions of CHWs/MCHBs, and the role they play in such programs, has the potential to transform the way we deliver healthcare services and address health equity challenges. Such recognition would also benefit CHWs and the populations they serve.
authors.affiliation: Postdoctoral Fellow, Institut de recherche en santé publique, de l'Université de Montréal (IRSPUM), Montreal, QC.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Torres
authors.affiliation: Canada Research Chair, Globalization and Health Equity Professor, University of Ottawa, ON, Professor, Flinders University of South Australia Adjunct Professor, University of Saskatchewan, SK.
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Labonté
authors.affiliation: Canada Research Chair in Gender, Migration and Health Associate Professor, Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON.
authors.forename: Denise L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Spitzer
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Andrew
authors.affiliation: Adjunct Professor, School of Public Health and Social Policy, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC.
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Amaratunga
mesh_terms: D000416:Alberta; D003150:Community Health Workers; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D024382:Professional Role; D036301:Qualitative Research