The African Union and its member states have been urged to make concrete financial and policy commitments to expand Africa’s community health workforce, “with an estimated $4.3bn required annually to achieve the target of two million workers by 2030.”
The Acting Deputy Director-General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr Raji Tajudeen, made the call on Thursday at a high-level ministerial gathering on community health in Abuja, stressing the need to translate continental agreements into practical action.
Tajudeen, who represented the Director-General of Africa CDC, Dr Jean Kaseya, said participating countries must commit to domestic financing, payroll reforms, policy measures and implementation plans to strengthen community health systems across the continent.
“Africa’s challenges require an equally ambitious response,” he said, urging delegates to secure political commitments capable of delivering measurable improvements in healthcare.
According to the Africa CDC’s Continental Community Health Programme Acceleration Plan 2026–2030, 1,059,085 community health workers had been deployed across Africa as of May 2026, leaving the continent about 941,000 workers short of its two-million target.
The plan estimates that achieving the target under its ambitious investment scenario would require cumulative investment of approximately $28bn by 2030, equivalent to about $4.3bn annually through a phased financing approach.
The continental strategy identifies domestic resource mobilisation, the formal integration of community health workers into national health systems and improved coordination of development partners’ funding as priorities for accelerating progress.
Tajudeen said “the Abuja meeting was expected to establish a common understanding among AU member states, the African Union Commission, Africa CDC and development partners on the urgency of expanding the workforce.”
He said the deliberations would also consider updates on national community health plans, proposed country roadmaps covering the next 12 to 18 months, financing commitments from development partners and continental priorities requiring endorsement.
He urged countries to move beyond technical agreements and make specific commitments that would ensure community health workers were adequately funded, integrated into national systems and supported to deliver essential healthcare services.
The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Salako, similarly called on delegates to use the meeting to secure concrete commitments towards expanding and sustaining the workforce.
Salako said participating countries should develop or update their national community health plans within the next 12 to 18 months, while endorsing country roadmaps and continental priorities to guide implementation.
He described the launch of the continental implementation plan by Nigeria’s Vice-President as a significant milestone in Africa’s efforts to strengthen community health systems.
The minister said the meeting should produce a common message to African heads of state and government and finalise the Abuja Communiqué for adoption at the political segment scheduled for Friday.
Two continental instruments are also expected to be disseminated at the gathering: the Continental Community Health Programme Scorecard and a standardised continental polyvalent community health worker curriculum.
The scorecard is expected to strengthen monitoring and accountability, while the curriculum is intended to promote harmonised training standards for community health workers across member states.
The Africa CDC plan identifies significant gaps in the institutional recognition and financing of the workforce. Only 68 per cent of African Union member states formally recognise community health workers as part of their national health workforce, while 85 per cent rely on donors for at least 49 per cent of their community health programme financing.
The gaps have raised concerns about the sustainability of community health programmes, particularly as countries seek to strengthen primary healthcare and improve access to essential services in underserved and hard-to-reach communities.
Community health workers provide frontline services, including health education, disease surveillance, referrals and support for maternal and child health interventions. Their proximity to communities also enables them to identify potential disease outbreaks early and connect residents with formal healthcare facilities.
The high-level forum, which brings together government representatives, health officials, continental institutions and development partners, is expected to advance a coordinated approach to financing, training, deploying and retaining community health workers across Africa.