Do lay health workers in primary and community health care improve maternal and child health?

"Lay health workers have no formal professional education, but they are usually provided with job-related training. They can be involved in either paid or voluntary care. They perform diverse functions related to health care delivery and a range of terms are used to describe them including village health workers, community volunteers and peer counsellors among others." This summary is based on a 2006 systematic review of lay health workers in primary and community health care, by Simon Lewin et al