7.6 million under-five children died in 2010 and three-quarters of all those deaths are mainly due to preventable causes: neonatal conditions, pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, and measles. Many of these deaths could be averted by known, affordable, low-technology interventions such as antibiotics, oral rehydration solution and zinc supplements, and anti-malarials. Community case management (CCM) is a strategy to deliver these lifesaving curative interventions for the most common childhood illnesses, in particular where there is little access to facility-based services.
CCM does not "stand alone." The best efforts improve the skills of existing cadres of community health workers (CHWs) so they can deliver the curative interventions to sick children in their communities and also ensure strong links to existing health facilities. A good CCM strategy
- addresses access to, quality of, and demand for CCM services;
- seeks to ensure that CCM has the support of decision-makers, health care providers, and community members; and
is put into action in tandem with improvements in the health system.
CORE Group CCM Initiative
One of CORE Group’s major contributions to CCM began with coordinating partners and involving its Community Health Network , which provided expert input from around the world, including major international health organizations (WHO, UNICEF, USAID, MCHIP). This effort culminated in Community Case Management Essentials, a guide designed to help programmers design, manage and evaluate high quality, sustainable CCM efforts that can reach vulnerable families in large numbers. This guide is complementary to and in harmony with CCM materials developed by WHO, Save the Children, UNICEF and others, ensuring consistency, clarity and comprehensive support to programmers.
The development of the CCM Essentials Guide is part of a larger CORE Group CCM Initiative that seeks to methodically advance this approach and its affiliated standards and tools, in order to expedite global implementation of quality CCM programming.
Tools & Resources
Community Case Management Essentials: Treating Common Childhood Illnesses in the Community, A Guide for Program Managers 2nd Edition 2012 [French] New!
CCM Graphic [French] New!
CCM Essentials Guide & Graphic Promotion Flyer [French]
- CCM Essentials Guide & Graphic Introduction Presentation
- CCM Additional Resources
- CCM Essestials Guide Draft Annotated Bibliography
Other Resources:
Working Papers: Qualitative study to identify solutions to local barriers to care-seeking and treatment for diarrhoea, malaria, and pneumonia in select high burden countries - Report on findings from Kenya, Niger, Nigeria (UNICEF Nov. 2012) New!
Working Paper: Community case management of diarrhea, malaria and pneumonia – Tracking science to policy and practice in sub-Saharan Africa (UNICEF Dec. 2012) New!
Key Resource List: Resources for iCCM of Childhood Illness (iCCM Task Force Nov. 2012) New!
Supplement: Special Supplement on integrated Community Case Management (AJTMH Nov. 2012) New!
Joint Statement: WHO/UNICEF JOINT STATEMENT - Integrated Community Case Management (iCCM) (June 2012)
Working Paper: Review of Systematic Challenges to the Scale-up of Integrated Community Case Management - Emerging Lessons & Recomendations fromthe Catalytic Initiative (CI/IHSS) (UNICEF April 2012)
Sample Toolkit: "Tools to Introduce Community Case Management (CCM) of Serious Childhood Infection" (Save the Children)
Presentations, Reports & Webinars
Webinar: Overview of Special Supplement to American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene on Integrated Community Case Management (Jan. 2013)
Presentations: CCM Overview & Resources and CCM Tools & Job Aids (CORE Group March 2012)
Presentation Outline: CCM Overview & Resources (PDF)
Shannon Downey, MPH, Community Health Program Manager with CORE Group presented at a CCM SOTA Workshop in March 2012 hosted by World Vision in Rwanda. The workshop was designed to provide a global overview of CCM, related resources and to support continued learning on CCM implementation, challenges and successes for new programs and scale-up.
Webinar: Community Case Management: Overview (Save the Children)
David Marsh, MD, MPH, Senior Advisor for Child Survival at Save the Children USA provides an overview of community case management, which includes related rationale, the definition and description, global momentum and challenges gleaning from his work with Save the Children.
Report: Community Case Management Technical Advisory Group Meeting (CORE Group Sept. 2011)
