Community health workers (CHWs) are members of a community who are chosen by community members or organizations to provide basic health and medical care to their community. They are  capable of providing preventive, promotional and rehabilitation care to these communities. 

To save lives in emergencies, time is of the essence. Community health workers are more often than not the closest to hand when people are in need of first aid, triage and other essential health care, assisting in search and rescue operations and providing emergency relief items.

The Emergency Care Training for Community Health Workers program aims to train CHWs in basic life-saving skills and mass casualty incident management to build capacity within communities across Kenya. The CHWs after the course will be able to respond to medical emergencies in a timely manner before an ambulance arrives or on the way to the hospital. This will hopefully reduce the morbidity and mortality from emergencies and contribute significantly to Emergency Medical Services which are a key component of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).