This Global Public Health article offers three contributions to the literature: the development and application of an analytical framework to consider the institutionalisation process of CHWs; a historical analysis of the professional institutionalisation of CHW in Brazil; and the identification of the paradoxes that such institutionalisation faces: firstly, institutionalisation focused on improving CHW remuneration created difficulties in hiring and paying these professionals; when CHW are incorporated within state bureaucracy they start to lose their autonomy as community agents; and that the effectiveness of CHW programmes depends on the improvement of clinical services in the most deprived areas.
Recommended Citation: Morgana G. Martins Krieger, Clare Wenham, Denise Nacif Pimenta, Theresia E. Nkya, Brunah Schall, Ana Carolina Nunes, Ana De Menezes & Gabriela Lotta (2022) How do community health workers institutionalise: An analysis of Brazil’s CHW programme, Global Public Health, 17:8, 1507-1524, DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2021.1940236