Mirian Gom 
ABUJA, Nigeria – The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) will convene African health and finance ministers in Abuja from October 28 to 30 to accelerate plans to recruit, train and deploy two million community health workers by 2030.
The meeting comes as Africa faces a projected shortage of 5.85 million health workers by the end of the decade. According to a media advisory issued by Africa CDC on Wednesday, the forum will bring together ministers, senior government officials, development partners, African Union institutions and community health representatives to turn continental commitments into national action.
Discussions will focus on sustainable financing, workforce development, harmonised standards and costed national plans to expand community health services.
The meeting will take place under the political leadership of President Bola Tinubu, whom the advisory identifies as the African Union Champion for Human Resources for Health and the Community Health Delivery Partnership.
Africa CDC estimates that the continent had approximately 1.15 million community health workers in 2024. Expanding the workforce is critical to closing staffing gaps and improving access to healthcare, particularly in remote and underserved communities.
Community health workers support disease surveillance, maternal and child healthcare, health education, early disease detection and referrals. They also help identify children who have missed routine vaccinations.
Recent Ebola and Mpox outbreaks have further highlighted their role in detecting public health threats, educating communities and supporting emergency responses.
The Abuja meeting will launch the Continental Community Health Acceleration Plan and the Continental Community Health Programme Scorecard to guide and monitor progress across African Union member states.
Africa CDC will also begin the next cycle of the Continental Community Health Landscape Survey to assess progress and identify gaps in workforce development.
Participants are expected to develop costed national acceleration plans for 2026 to 2030. These plans will address domestic financing, job creation, workforce deployment and staff retention.
A high-level ministerial session on October 30 will seek additional political and financial commitments to strengthen community health programmes across the continent.
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