Last week, we joined more than 8,000 leaders, advocates, implementers, and journalists from 165 countries in Vancouver, Canada for the 2019 Women Deliver conference. The conference, held every three years, is the world’s largest meeting on the health, rights and, well-being of women and girls.

“This summit is truly bringing people together,” Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated at the conference opening plenary. “Let’s recommit to a brighter tomorrow for women and girls everywhere.”

With a focus on power and how it can drive–or hinder –progress and change, the power of community health workers (CHWs) was in the spotlight during several sessions throughout the conference. Recognized as an effective means to deliver a range of preventive, promotive, and curative services, community health programs bring services directly to the doorsteps of families, connects them to health facilities, and ultimately improves health outcomes.

However, to fully unleash the power of CHWs, they must be integrated into primary health care systems and must be able to collaborate in larger scale health worker teams. “Every CHW encounters a case that surpasses their knowledge and the patient has to be referred,” said Jennifer Schechter of Integrate Health during a session hosted by UNICEF, USAID, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Both CHWs and strong health facilities are needed for primary health care.”

Margaret Kilzono, a Kenyan CHW supported by Amref Health Africa, echoed this sentiment on the conference’s Power Stage saying “We are the link between the communities and the health facilities. No one knows the community like us, the CHWs.”

The power of CHWs goes beyond improving health outcomes for women and girls. CHWs are integral to achieving universal health coverage (UHC) for everyone around the world. The moral foundation of UHC is that no one will be left behind, including those most vulnerable.

“How are we going to reach UHC?” asked Antionette Habinshuti from Partners in Health, Rwanda at Powering Change United for Women’s Children’s and Adolescents Health, a session hosted by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health. “We can’t solve health problems in the hospital only, we must go into the community.”

As the conference came to an end, the momentum and energy for approaches to improve the health and livelihood of women and girls was palpable. By optimizing community health programs as well as achieving UHC, we will all move toward a more healthy and more gender-equal world, and, as Katja Iverson, the President and CEO of Women Deliver said, “in a gender-equal world, everybody wins.”