Recognizing the complexity of factors that influence child health outcomes, the Regional Framework for Community Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) has been developed as a practical tool for getting started by building upon existing structures, community actors and actions already in place.

This document is divided into nine chapters. Chapter 1 provides background information about IMCI and describes the context in which this framework was developed. Chapters 2-4 present the Regional Framework for Community IMCI, describe the areas that make up the third component of IMCI, and discuss how the areas are linked to one another and to the other components of IMCI. Chapter 5 details the roles of different actors in community IMCI. Chapter 6 summarizes the guiding principles for community IMCI planning and implementation, and chapter 7 outlines the community IMCI planning process at various levels. Chapter 8 provides suggestions for developing sustainable community-based activities and for scaling-up, and chapter 9 discusses issues related to monitoring and evaluation of community IMCI activities and the need for operations research.