community health agent

Community health agent (agente comunitário de saúde or ACS, in Portuguese language) is the title of a specific lay health care worker developed in Brazil by way of PACS (Program of Community Health Workers) in 1991 as part of the construction of the Brazilian Unified Health System established by Constitutional rule in 1988. The agent, which was said to be inspired on the barefoot doctors program in China, is not certified to practice medicine or nursing, but has the primary task of gathering information on the health status of a small community by means of a close relationship with it. Originally, the agent was to be one of the inhabitants of a street, neighborhood, or surrounding region, and was to be chosen based on a solid connection with his neighbors, as well as the capacity to dedic...