Africa needs $4.3bn yearly to meet 2m community health worker target

ABUJA, Nigeria – Africa needs an estimated $4.3bn annually to expand its community health workforce to two million by 2030, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has said, urging governments to translate policy commitments into sustained domestic investment.

Acting Deputy Director-General of Africa CDC, Dr Raji Tajudeen, made the call on Thursday at a high-level ministerial gathering on community health in Abuja.

Representing the agency’s Director-General, Dr Jean Kaseya, Tajudeen said African Union member states must commit to domestic financing, payroll reforms and practical implementation plans to strengthen community-based healthcare across the continent. “Africa’s challenges require an equally ambitious response,” he said, urging delegates to secure political commitments that would produce measurable improvements in healthcare delivery.

According to the Africa CDC’s Continental Community Health Programme Acceleration Plan 2026–2030, Africa had deployed 1,059,085 community health workers as of May 2026, leaving a shortfall of about 941,000 workers against the two-million target.

The plan estimates that the continent would require cumulative investment of approximately $28bn by 2030 under its ambitious financing scenario, equivalent to an average of about $4.3bn annually through a phased funding approach. It identifies domestic resource mobilisation, the formal integration of community health workers into national health systems and better 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.

Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Salako, also called on delegates to use the meeting to secure concrete commitments for expanding and sustaining the workforce. Salako urged participating countries to develop or update their national community health plans within the next 12 to 18 months and endorse country roadmaps and continental priorities to guide implementation.