Community and civil society roles are not limited to promotion and prevention, but extend also to providing curative and rehabilitative inputs. We have already explored the involvement of civil society as service provider in the previous module.

Civil organizations are involved in many different ways in health service provision. Some may provide services directly (such as mission providers, trade unions and other NGOs). Other NGOs may support state, private sector or even international NGO programmes. These may be contracted by the state, but often are not.

In many cases, NGO services provide important cover to groups otherwise disadvantaged in health service access. NGO networks have assisted governments and WHO in major treatment campaigns, such as the Africare, Global 2000 assistance with the distribution of Ivermectin in the campaign to control river blindness in West Africa. NGOs can thus be valuable partners in drug distribution, even while the state remains the major public procurement agency.