Despite significant progress towards achieving its Millennium Development Goals, Madagascar was unable to meet many of its targets. The Government of Madagascar has identified community health as a priority for improving health outcomes and is therefore updating its National Community Health Policy and Strategy. The aim is to harmonize existing community health programs and set standards for the package of community health services.

To guide this process, Management Sciences for Health, with support from UNICEF Madagascar, identified evidence on the current bottlenecks within the community health system, the future costs and required financing, as well as the expected health benefits of equitable access to community health interventions.