The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), in collaboration with the Nigerian government and continental partners, is set to convene a high-level forum in Abuja to accelerate efforts to recruit, train, deploy and retain two million community health workers across Africa by 2030.
The forum, scheduled for October 28 to 30, is expected to secure political commitments, sustainable financing and concrete national action to address the continent’s health workforce shortages and strengthen preparedness for disease outbreaks.
According to an advisory issued by Africa CDC on Thursday, the meeting will take place at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, under the political leadership of President Bola Tinubu, the African Union Champion for Human Resources for Health, and the Community Health Delivery Partnership.
It will bring together African ministers of health and finance, senior government officials, African Union institutions, development partners and community health representatives to discuss strategies for strengthening the continent’s health workforce.
Africa CDC said an adequately trained and equipped health workforce was critical to strengthening health security and sovereignty, particularly as recurring public health emergencies highlight gaps in the continent’s capacity to detect and respond to disease threats.
The advisory noted that ongoing Ebola outbreaks and other health emergencies had underscored the importance of investing in community health workers, who play vital roles in early disease detection, surveillance, community engagement and rapid response.
Despite progress in expanding community health services, significant workforce gaps persist across Africa.
The continent had an estimated 1.15 million community health workers in 2024, while the projected shortage across the broader health workforce could reach 5.85 million by 2030, according to the advisory.
The forum will examine strategies for closing these gaps through sustainable financing, workforce development, harmonised standards and costed national plans to accelerate the recruitment and deployment of community health workers.
A major highlight will be the launch of the Continental Community Health Acceleration Plan, alongside the Continental Community Health Programme Scorecard and the next cycle of the Continental Community Health Landscape Survey.
Participants are also expected to develop costed national acceleration plans for community health workers covering the 2026–2030 period.
Discussions will focus on domestic financing, employment, deployment and retention, as well as establishing continental priorities for workforce investment and accountability.
The meeting will further examine how community health workers can strengthen primary healthcare, improve maternal and child health outcomes, reach children who have not received any routine vaccine doses, and enhance preparedness for and response to disease outbreaks.
The high-level ministerial session, scheduled for Friday, October 30, is expected to secure political and financial commitments from participating governments and advance continental initiatives to accelerate the development of Africa’s community health workforce.
