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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye and Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has called on African governments to increase domestic funding for community health services, warning that heavy dependence on external partners could undermine the continent’s target of training two million community health workers by 2030.
The agency said Africa had trained between 1.1 million to 1.2 million community health workers under its previous 10-year plan, but the number remained inadequate for a continent with 55 member states and a population of approximately 1.5 billion.
Speaking on behalf of the Director-General of Africa CDC, Dr. Jean Kaseya, at three-day high-level forum on community health workers in Abuja, Dr Raji Tajudeen said African leaders had renewed their commitment to the initiative, setting 2030 as the deadline for achieving the two-million target.
He said President Bola Tinubu had been designated the African Union champion for human resources for health and the Community Health Delivery Partnership, providing political leadership for the initiative.
Tajudeen, however, insisted that political commitment must translate into practical action, including sustainable financing, digital health systems and stronger primary healthcare services.
He noted that community health workers were critical to Africa’s response to recurring disease outbreaks, stressing that the same workforce responsible for delivering essential healthcare at the grassroots could help detect and report unusual disease patterns before they escalated into major emergencies.
“We want to move away from community health workers or nurses dying as an indicator that there is an outbreak to pushing for stronger surveillance systems capable of identifying emerging threats early,” he said.
He identified climate change and the need to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.(SDGs) as reasons African countries must accelerate investment in community health.
According to him, Africa CDC’s investment case projects a return of $19 for every dollar invested in community health workers, demonstrating the potential economic and public health benefits of strengthening the workforce.
Tajudeen thus expressed concern that approximately 85 per cent of community health worker programmes were financed by external partners, describing domestic resource mobilisation as essential to ensuring continuity and sustainability.
He called for greater government investment, supported by development partners, and urged countries to adopt coordinated approaches to health financing and implementation.
The Africa CDC representative also advocated the digitalisation of community health services, saying workers needed to move away from paper-based records towards digital systems that would improve reporting, monitoring and response.
He further highlighted the Africa Pool Procurement Mechanism, approved by African Heads of State and Government, as a means of reducing the cost of health commodities and improving supplies to primary healthcare facilities.
At the ministerial segment of the Abuja forum, the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako, urged participating countries to translate the continental initiative into measurable commitments.
He said delegates were expected to consider updates on national community health plans, partner financing commitments and proposed country roadmaps covering the next 12 to 18 months.
He said the meeting was also expected to consider domestic commitments on financing, payroll reforms, policy measures and implementation, alongside the proposed Abuja Communiqué for consideration during the political segment scheduled for Friday, October 30.
Two continental instruments, the Continental Community Health Programme Scorecard and the Standardised Continental Polyvalent Community Health Worker Curriculum, were also scheduled for dissemination.
The Minister said the meeting offered an opportunity to translate technical agreements into political commitments and practical action.
He called on other ministers, development partners and other stakeholders to work collectively towards stronger primary healthcare systems capable of responding to disease outbreaks, climate-related health challenges and the everyday needs of African communities.
The initiative is also expected to strengthen access to essential healthcare, particularly in underserved communities, while improving Africa’s preparedness for future public health emergencies.
