344. The unit and supporting team members make use of a variety of media as well as social and communication structures within communities. The use of the latter vehicles are important for ensuring that messages reach into, especially hard-toreach communities and for ensuring the acceptability of the messages, especially where the messaging may be seen to conflict with religious or traditional beliefs, customs or values. 7.2.5.3 Involvement of the community in health services 345. Whilst the GoSL has developed, and continues to develop stronger preventative and curative health care policies for the improved survival, health and well-being of its children, it faces persistently high maternal, infant and child morbidity and mortality rates. Key reasons include poor decentralised implementation of the policies and programmes down to community and home levels, insufficient human resources to support effective implementation, and poor demand due to low levels of knowledge and resistance linked to traditional customary and religious attitudes, practices and beliefs. 346. A key strategy adopted by the MoHS to address these barriers is through the development, capacitation and mobilisation of community resources in the form of community health workers as an integral component of the national health system. Over the past decade, numerous programmes have drawn on community members to support the implementation of various primary health care programmes, including maternal and newborn child health, nutritional support, and sanitation and hygiene promotion. 347. Community health workers are drawn from the local community to fulfil a key support role to the formal health system in the provision of information, identification of vulnerable households, the provision of basic medical supplies and services, advocacy and awareness-raising as to the availability and value of available medical services, as well as facilitating access to social services aimed at addressing the social and economic determinants of improved child health 348. The MoHS is not the only ministry which uses community health workers. Recently, the MoHS developed a Policy for Community Health Workers in Sierra Leone, 2012. The purpose of the policy is to ensure coordination, alignment and standardization of the work performed by different community health workers. It defines their respective roles and responsibilities and provides a standard modular training programme which all community health workers are required to complete. 7.2.5.4 Involvement of NGOs and children in health service provision and monitoring 349. The GoSL recognizes that the acceptability and accessibility of health services depends in communities and children accepting them. This in turn requires that their inclusion in the development and design of programmes capable of responding to community challenges and concerns. For this reason, at a planning stage, the MoHS draws in its partners, including NGOs and community structures, from an early stage. For example, the District Health Management Teams and Local Councils draw up plans with the input of local partners and community structures. This process is replicated at a national level. 7. Health and Welfare  89