Africa

Frontline Health Workers Coalition is Key Partner on Inaugural Africa Health Workforce Investment Forum

cbales — Mon, 06 May 2024 15:04:56 +0000

Frontline Health Workers Coalition is Key Partner on Inaugural Africa Health Workforce Investment Forum cbales May 06, 2024 May 06, 2024

The Coalition, hosted by IntraHealth International, is leading civil society participation.

The World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with Member States and partners—including the Frontline Health Workers Coalition hosted by IntraHealth International—is convening the inaugural Africa Health Workforce Investment Forum in Windhoek, Namibia from May 6 - 8, 2024.

The Forum will engage approximately 150 key decision-makers and actors—including African ministers of health, finance, education, and labor along with donors and civil society—to obtain consensus and commitment on the first-ever Africa Health Workforce Investment Charter.

Find out more about IntraHealth International's participation in the Forum.

With a bold target of halving Africa's 6.1 million health workforce shortage, the pioneering Charter aims to mobilize and align domestic and partner funding to strengthen, grow, and retain the continent's health workforce, especially in rural and primary health care settings. Developed by the WHO Regional African Office (WHO/AFRO) in collaboration with Member States and partners, the Charter promotes a multisectoral approach to health workforce development.

Civil society input at the Forum is critical

The Frontline Health Workers Coalition is leading civil society participation at the Forum to share perspectives as organizations and allies working directly with countries and funders to build the health workforce and address challenges. Implementing partners like the Coalition's 40+ organizational members, are critical in the long-term, not only for advocating to secure health workforce investments but also for operationalizing the Charter.

IntraHealth's Tina Flores, director of the Coalition, and members of the Coalition's Technical Working Group helped design three Forum sessions:

Operationalizing the Charter
Bridging the education to employment gap: Unlocking fiscal space for absorption and employment of newly trained Health workers
Integrating and professionalizing community health workers to strengthen primary health care.

Five experts will represent the Coalition at the Forum:

Janet Muriuki, Senior Director, Health Workforce Development, IntraHealth
Rachel Deussom, Senior Director, Health Practice, Chemonics
Amina Dorayi, Nigeria Country Director, Pathfinder
Claire Jones, Senior Health Financing Specialist, Local Health System Sustainability (LHSS) Project, Namibia, Abt Global
Mei Li, Senior Private Sector Partnerships Officer, Partners in Health.

Follow the Forum

For timely updates on the Forum, follow WHO/AFRO on X and the Frontline Health Workers Coalition on LinkedIn.

Other key partners supporting the Forum include the ILO-OECD-WHO Working for Health Programme and its Multi-Partner Trust Fund and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Join us!

The Frontline Health Workers Coalition is a growing group of international organizations in 100 countries whose vision is that every community should have access to all cadres of trained, compensated, safe and supported health workers who are able to provide quality essential health services, as well as respond to pandemic threats and address noncommunicable diseases. IntraHealth has led the Coalition's secretariat since 2012.

Organizations interested in health workforce advocacy can apply to be a member of the Frontline Health Workers Coalition. Donors can provide funding to grow the coalition’s activities or sponsor specific events. Please contact the Coalition to discuss how we can collaborate.

Africa Health workforce development Policy & Advocacy Health Workers

Africa Health Workforce Investment Forum

cbales — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 17:12:24 +0000

Africa Health Workforce Investment Forum cbales April 29, 2024

May 06, 2024 - May 08, 2024

The World Health Organization, in collaboration with Member States and partners, is convening the inaugural Africa Health Workforce Investment Forum on May 6-8 in Windhoek, Namibia. The Forum will engage approximately 150 invited participants—including African ministers of health, finance, education, and labor along with key decision-makers representing investment partners and civil society—to obtain consensus and commitment on the first-ever Africa Health Workforce Investment Charter.

With a bold target of halving Africa's 6.1-million health workforce shortage, the Charter aims to mobilize and align domestic and partner funding to strengthen, grow, and retain the continent's health workforce, especially in rural and primary health care settings.

Key partners supporting the Forum include the ILO-OECD-WHO Working for Health Programme and its Multi-Partner Trust Fund; The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; and the Frontline Health Workers Coalition. IntraHealth International serves on the Technical Working Group for the Charter and is supporting the Forum, including as the secretariat of the Frontline Health Workers Coalition.

Janet Muriuki, IntraHealth's senior director, health workforce development is representing IntraHealth and the Coalition at the Forum and is speaking during or moderating three sessions.

Aligning and stimulating investments to address health workforce challenges in Africa

World Health Organization

https://www.afro.who.int/media-centre/events/africa-health-workforce-investment…

Our Participation

Featured Event

Launch of the Health Workforce Investment Charter & Press Conference

Date(s):	May 06, 2024 12:30pm - 01:15pm CAT (06:30am - 07:15am EDT)
More Information:	This session will officially launch the Africa Health Workforce Investment Forum and speakers will interact with the press. Masters of Ceremonies: Ben Nangombe, Executive Director, Ministry of Health and Social Services and Dr. Kasonde Mwinga, Director Universal Health Coverage – Life Course, WHO/AFRO. Speakers: • Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, Regional Director • Hon. Dr. Kalumbi Shangula (MP), Minister of Health and Social Services; Namibia • Hon. Nakhumicha S. Wafula, Minister of Health, Kenya • Hon. Dr. Benard Okoe-Boye, Minister of Health, Ghana • Hon. Dr. Pierre Somse, Minister of Health, Central African Republic • Hon. Utoni Nujoma, Minister of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Creation, Namibia • Hon. Dr. Mathume Joseph Phaahla, Minister of Health, South Africa • Hon. Pr (Mr) Zely Arivelo, Randriamanantany, Minister of Health Madagascar • Hon. Mercy Maruva Dinha, Deputy Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Zimbabwe • Dr. Bruce Aylward, Assistant Director General, Universal Health Coverage, WHO • Dr. Nertilla Tavanxhi, Global Fund • Dr. Janet Muriuki, Senior Director, Health Workforce, IntraHealth International.
Presenter(s):	Janet Muriuki speaks on behalf of the Frontline Health Workers Coalition and IntraHealth.

Roundtable Discussion

Transforming words into action: Operationalizing the Charter

Date(s):	May 07, 2024 09:15am - 10:15am CAT (03:15am - 04:15am EDT)
More Information:	This session–facilitated by the ILO-OECD-WHO Working for Health Multi-Partner Trust Fund partnership– will debate government representatives and donors on innovative approaches that can be adopted by countries and partners to mobilize and secure investments for increasing workforce education, employment, and retention across the Africa region. The session will reflect on support for the Africa Health Workforce Investment Charter through Working for Health, and how this has helped deliver analytical and policy work through global tools and products that is contributing towards securing the sustained long-term investments required to implement the key education, employment and retention priorities and interventions needed to respond to Africa’s projected 6.1 million workforce shortfall by 2030. Chair: Hon. Nakhumicha S. Wafula, Minister of Health/Cabinet Secretary, Kenya Co-chair: Emma Sass, Health Workforce Policy Lead, UK Department of Health & Social Care Facilitators: Dr. Janet Muriuki of IntraHealth and the Frontline Health Workers Coalition, and Dr. Laurence Codja of the WHO Countries for initial intervention: Central African Republic, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Zimbabwe Partners for initial intervention: Global Fund, USAID, World Bank, Chemonics
Presenter(s):	Janet Muriuki is the moderator of this roundtable discussion.

Panel Discussions

Bridging the education to employment gap: Unlocking fiscal space for absorption and employment of newly trained health workers

Date(s):	May 07, 2024 10:45am - 11:45am EDT
More Information:	This session aims to strengthen multisectoral collaborations and investment that will help bridge the education to employment gap by discussing the mismatch between Africa's health workforce training output and the available budget space to employ them. It will make conclusions and recommendations on how feasible it is to stimulate the employment of new health workers through various modalities of expanding or optimizing fiscal space. The topic will be introduced by a presentation highlighting Africa’s fiscal space challenges, followed by a panel discussion that will share various perspectives and experiences by governments and partners. Facilitators: Dr. Ogochukwu Chukwujekwu, WHO AFRO Health Financing & Investment Team Leader and Dr. Laurent Musango, WHO Representative to Madagascar Chair: Dr. Nertila Tavanxhi, Global Fund Panelists: • Hon. Zely Arivelo Randriamanantany, Minister of Health, Madagascar • Hon. Dr Benard Okoe Boye, Minister of Health, Ghana • Jim Campbell, Director, Health Workforce, WHO • Dr. Maren Hopfe, ILO • Dr. Janet Muriuki, IntraHealth and Frontline Health Workers Coalition • Ratidzai Mutonono, Director, Wages and Remuneration, Ministry of Finance, Zimbabwe
Presenter(s):	Janet Muriuki is a panelist.

Participants

Janet Muriuki

Sr. Director, Health Workforce Development

Africa Health workforce development Health Financing Health Workforce & Systems

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Windhoek

Namibia

CARDIO4Dakar Fact Sheet

rgoodwin — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 13:24:36 +0000

CARDIO4Dakar Fact Sheet 2024 rgoodwin March 06, 2024 Download

Countries Africa Senegal

Projects CARDIO4Dakar

Topics Health Areas Noncommunicable Diseases

Publisher IntraHealth International

12th Ouagadougou Partnership Annual Meeting

rgoodwin — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 16:09:48 +0000

12th Ouagadougou Partnership Annual Meeting rgoodwin December 04, 2023

December 11, 2023 - December 13, 2023

The annual meeting of the Ouagadougou Partnership (OP) brings together family planning and reproductive health stakeholders in the West Africa region. This includes government delegations from the nine OP member countries, young people, technical and financial partners, regional and international civil society organizations, and donors. Sessions focus on evaluating progress in the region, discussing challenges, and sharing lessons learned and good practices.

Gender and reproductive health: Strategies for social and behavior change in favor of youth.

Ouagadougou Partnership

https://lu.ma/rapo2023

https://partenariatouaga.org/en/

Our Participation

Side Events

Postpartum Family Planning “Cocktail”

Date(s):	December 12, 2023 05:45pm - 06:45pm GMT (12:45pm - 01:45pm EST)
More Information:	Invitation-only event co-organized by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID
Location:	Foyer Hall, Sofitel Abidjan Hotel
Presenter(s):	co-organized by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID

Participants

Marguerite Ndour

Project Director, INSPiRE, Burkina Faso

Cheick Touré

West Africa Regional Director, Mali

Isabelle Bicaba

Family Planning/Maternal and Newborn Health Specialist, INSPiRE, Burkina Faso

Mamadou Kandji

Chief of Party, The Challenge Initiative NextGen, Senegal

Fatou Rachel Sarr Aw

Technical Advisor, MOMENTUM Safe Surgery in Family Planning and Obstetrics, Senegal

Aliou Bagayoko

Technical Advisor, MOMENTUM Safe Surgery in Family Planning and Obstetrics, Mali

Moussa Faye

RRP, Institutional Development and Sustainability, The Challenge Initiative NextGen, Senegal

Africa Solution Areas Events&Initiatives Key Issues

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Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

22nd International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA)

rgoodwin — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 18:25:42 +0000

22nd International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) rgoodwin November 16, 2023

December 04, 2023 - December 09, 2023

ICASA 2023 highlights the theme “AIDS Is Not Over: Address inequalities, accelerate inclusion and innovation.” The conference focuses on five objectives: 1) mainstream respect for equity, inclusion and diversity in the control and mitigation of the impact of diseases; 2) sustain and increase domestic financing and community response; 3) respond to HIV/AIDS, COVID-19, Monkey-pox, Ebola and any other emerging diseases; 4) mitigate the impact of hepatitis, tuberculosis, and malaria through health systems strengthening; and 5) generate and provide evidence-based data for policy formulation.

AIDS Is Not Over: Address inequalities, accelerate inclusion and innovation.

Society for AIDS in Africa

http://icasa2023.saafrica.org/registration/apply-for-registration.php

http://icasa2023.saafrica.org/

Our Participation

Presentations

Addressing Equity Issues for HIV Service Access in Complex Environments—the Case of South Sudan

Date(s):	December 05, 2023 12:05pm - 12:50pm CAT (05:05am - 05:50am EST)
Location:	Plenary Room, Rainbow Towers Hotel & International Conference Centre
Presenter(s):	Moses Galla

Poster Presentation

The impact of low socio-economic status on increasing HIV vulnerability among older female sex workers in South Sudan

Date(s):	December 05, 2023 11:30am - 04:30pm CAT (04:30am - 09:30am EST)
Location:	Rainbow Towers Hotel & International Conference Centre
Presenter(s):	Moses Galla

Role of communications in creating an enabling environment for key population programming in South Sudan

Date(s):	December 05, 2023 11:30am - 04:30pm CAT (04:30am - 09:30am EST)
Location:	Rainbow Towers Hotel & International Conference Centre
Presenter(s):	Gladys Achan

Towards pandemic preparedness: Setting up a regional emergency operations center in Eastern Uganda

Date(s):	December 08, 2023 11:30am - 04:00pm CAT (04:30am - 09:00am EST)
Location:	Rainbow Towers Hotel & International Conference Centre
Presenter(s):	Esther Tumbare

Participants

Gladys Achan

Communications officer, USAID Advancing HIV & AIDS Epidemic Control (AHEC) Activity, South Sudan

Moses Galla

Deputy chief of party, USAID Advancing HIV & AIDS Epidemic Control (AHEC) Activity, South Sudan

Esther Tumbare

Senior global technical director

Africa Global Health Areas Solution Areas Key Issues

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Rainbow Towers Hotel & International Conference Centre, Harare, Zimbabwe

3rd International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA)

rgoodwin — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 17:55:32 +0000

3rd International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA) rgoodwin November 16, 2023

November 27, 2023 - November 30, 2023

CPHIA provides a unique African-led platform for leaders across the continent to reflect on lessons learned in health and science and align on a way forward for creating more resilient health systems. Conference tracks focus on topics including African-led innovation, universal health coverage and access to adequate health care for young girls and women, pandemic preparedness and health security, unmasking silent epidemics such as noncommunicable diseases and mental health, and more.

Breaking Barriers: Repositioning Africa in the Global Health Architecture

Zambian Ministry of Health

https://cphia2023.com/registration/

https://cphia2023.com/

Our Participation

Presentations

Factors associated with unmet need for family planning among unmarried women in Rwanda

Date(s):	November 22, 2023
Location:	Please register for free at https://bit.ly/CPHIA2023virtualabstracts This is a virtual presentation, on November 22, 2023 at TBD time.
Presenter(s):	Rosine Bigirimana

Poster Presentation

Improving uptake of timely safe obstetric and surgical care among women with previous cesarean delivery in Rwanda

Date(s):	November 27, 2023 - November 30, 2023
Location:	Poster display area, Mulungushi International Conference Center
Presenter(s):	Josee Uwamariya

Participants

Annie Zulu Banda

Chief of party, USAID Leading Organizational Capacity and Localization Development project (USAID LOCAL), IntraHealth/Zambia

Rosine Bigirimana

Maternal health coordinator, USAID MOMENTUM Safe Surgery in Family Planning and Obstetrics, IntraHealth/Rwanda

Samson Radeny

East and Southern Africa regional director, IntraHealth International

Josee Uwamariya

Operational research advisor, USAID MOMENTUM Safe Surgery in Family Planning and Obstetrics, IntraHealth/Rwanda

Africa Global Key Issues

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Mulungushi International Conference Center, Lusaka, Zambia

Want to Unleash Pent Up Health Tech Innovation in Africa? Invest in Health Worker and Facility Registries

cbales — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 14:43:00 +0000

Want to Unleash Pent Up Health Tech Innovation in Africa? Invest in Health Worker and Facility Registries cbales October 04, 2023

October 04, 2023

IntraHealth's Amy Finnegan and Olivia Vélez explain how investing in digital public infrastructure like health worker and facility registries can accelerate health tech startups.

Earlier this year, IntraHealth International connected with a company that’s using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to dynamically redistribute the health workforce in Liberia. We quickly got into the weeds—how are you setting it up and how much does it cost? No surprise, it’s like any data science project—80% of the work is wrangling the data. In this case, the firm had to create a list of all the health facilities and the providers working at those facilities and their training and skillset—using available, messy data and at times visiting health facilities to collect data from scratch—before they could even begin to use AI.

Registries are an essential building block of a health information system.

It wasn’t long before we realized the startup had created their own custom health worker and facility registry. What’s a registry? Registries are an essential building block of a health information system. Simply put, they are lists of entities that have been verified with some criteria. However, registries don’t get the attention they deserve. Let’s see how integral they are to the health tech ecosystem in Africa.

Health tech investing in Africa has reached over half a billion dollars in the last 18 months according to a 2023 report from Briter Bridges. Telemedicine companies are leading the pack—and registries are critical to a telemedicine startup in the same way they were critical to the AI company redistributing health workers in Liberia. When a client connects with a health worker virtually, they may need a referral to another provider or to a pharmacy nearby to pick up a prescription. Behind the scenes is a registry of health care providers, pharmacies, and in stock medicines, and if it’s a repeat customer a client registry can help identify existing prescriptions and any interactions.

Just like that, telemedicine has leapfrogged infrastructure barriers to health care access in Africa—but not without registries.

A customized registry could cost between $100-300k.

Like any startup, a telemedicine startup needs to generate revenue quickly with limited funding runways and most startups never get past the early stages if they cannot generate revenue. If there is no national registry, having to create a customized registry could cost between $100-300k and require ongoing maintenance of between $10-40k per month, depending on the scope and scale. If a startup dies, its custom-built registry dies with it.

Established national registries not only reduce the startup costs and barriers to entry but can accelerate the time from startup to revenue generation when companies can pour money into reducing customer acquisition costs (CAC) rather than recreating and updating registries for their own use. A market with an up-to-date and well-maintained health worker, facility, and client registry can lower startup costs and potentially attract new investors to fund innovation in these markets.

Open source global good software is on the shelf and ready to be implemented.

The great thing about registries is that the global health community has produced guidelines for developing and maintaining facility, health worker, and client registries, and open source global good software is on the shelf and ready to be implemented. IntraHealth has developed and maintains three canonical, open source, and standards-based registry tools. iHRIS is a health worker registry that stores information on health workers across a health system, including their demographics, training, and certifications; GOFR, the Global Open Facility Registry, is a tool that allows facility reconciliation and the creation of a master list of facilities; and OpenCR is a privacy preserving client registry tool. At scale, registries built on such open source tools could power tomorrow’s health tech growth in Africa but not without further investment and governance.

Why not develop and maintain registries through a B2B, business-to-business, model? Venture capitalists could consider funding an NGO, or a social enterprise based in a low- or middle-income country, to enter the market and maintain an application programming interface (API) to an up-to-date and well-maintained health worker and facility registry. Startups could pay a fee to the company rather than recreating the list each time, customers could be assured that they are getting referrals to the most qualified individuals, and the government could have access to the data for free.

With national health worker and facility registries, promising health tech innovations we haven’t even thought of yet could have a running start at revenue generation.

By Amy Finnegan

Deputy director of data science

By Olivia Vélez

Former chief digital health officer

Digital Health Africa

Is In The Media

At Sengerema Health Center in Tanzania, Neema Gwidu reviews a patient's information. Photo by Rashid Hamis Kindamba for IntraHealth International

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African Smart Cities Investment Summit

cbales — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 17:06:03 +0000

African Smart Cities Investment Summit cbales September 05, 2023

September 06, 2023 - September 08, 2023

The African Smart Cities Investment Summit pioneers the transformation of urban landscapes for Africa's future. IntraHealth International will join visionary leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, government officials, and engaged citizens at this groundbreaking event to unlock the potential of African cities and shape the lives of 1.5 billion future Africans in 100 cities yet to be built by 2100.

DALA Africa

https://register.smart-cities.africa/

https://smart-cities.africa/about-the-summit/

Our Participation

Panel Discussions

Urban Integration for Universal Health Coverage in Smart African Cities

Date(s):	September 07, 2023 10:30am - 11:30am CAT (04:30am - 05:30am EDT)
More Information:	In Africa, chronic diseases are projected to cause 57% of deaths and cost $2.4 trillion annually by 2030. As the continent rapidly urbanizes, there’s a pivotal opportunity for cities to champion universal health coverage (UHC) and embed public health initiatives within their infrastructural blueprints. Our Philippe Guinot will moderate a panel discussion and Q&A on integrating smart city design with the broader objectives of UHC, drawing from the successes of CARDIO4Cities, The Challenge Initiative, and City Cancer Challenge. This session will promote action to ensure African smart cities not only leverage technology for advancement but also significantly improve public health outcomes and tackle chronic diseases. Free but participants must register in advance.
Location:	Kigali Convention Center, Room AD12
Presenter(s):	Philippe Guinot (moderator), Chief Technical and Operating Officer, IntraHealth International Babati Mokgethi, Senior Urban Development Officer, African Development Bank Group Marlene Mumukunde, Kigali City Manager, City Cancer Challenge Hon. Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana, Minister of Health, Rwanda

Participants

Philippe Guinot

Chief Technical and Operating Officer

Africa Noncommunicable Diseases

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Kigali, Rwanda

Program Localization: Ouagadougou Partnership Coordination Unit (OPCU) Case Study

rgoodwin — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 13:36:57 +0000

Program Localization: Ouagadougou Partnership Coordination Unit (OPCU) Case Study 2023 rgoodwin July 18, 2023

Localization means increasing international investment in and respect for the role of local actors, with the goal of increasing the reach, effectiveness, and accountability of development efforts. International development donors in all sectors are increasingly committed to localized programming—placing decisionmaking and implementation in the hands of local people and institutions.

Download

Countries Africa

Publisher IntraHealth International

By Jen Snell

Female Community Health Workers Can Unlock Health For All

ihadmin2 — Tue, 30 May 2023 13:25:53 +0000

Female Community Health Workers Can Unlock Health For All ihadmin2 May 30, 2023

May 24, 2023

Let’s give them platforms to share their recommendations and pay them fairly.

The global health community is in Geneva this week for the 76th World Health Assembly (WHA). With this year’s theme “Saving lives, driving health for all,” it is critical for the conversations to be laser-focused on turning words into action to deliver for the more than half a billion people across the African continent who still do not have access to basic health care.

For us at mothers2mothers, an African Primary Health Care NGO and member of the Frontline Health Worker Coalition, this focus should especially hone in on the vital and life-saving role that female community health workers (CHWs) are playing in unlocking health for all for their peers.

More needs to be done to ensure local female CHW voices are represented in global fora.

I was in New York earlier this month for the Multi-Stakeholder Hearings on Tuberculosis, Pandemic Preparedness and Response, and Universal Health Coverage (UHC), where I delivered an intervention from the floor and highlighted the contribution of CHWs. But it struck me how much more needs to be done to ensure that local female CHW voices are represented in global fora to truly improve the working conditions and guarantee the fair recognition and remuneration they deserve. Too few of the conversations still do not include the voices and point of views from the people who experience the reality of working on the frontlines, and that needs to change.

Why? Because no genuine talk of achieving UHC by 2030 would be complete without thoughtfully considering and integrating CHW solutions and responses. UHC depends on quality primary health coverage (PHC), which in turn relies on paid, professional, skilled, and supported CHWs—in other words: CHWs + PHC = UHC. And we know that scaling up primary health care interventions across low- and middle-income countries could deliver the kind of gains that will firmly set the world on the path to achieving health for all by 2030—from saving 60 million lives to increasing life expectancy by 3.7 years.

With CHWs’ proven ability to save lives and improve health, we must unlock the full potential of this remarkable group to deliver health for all.

12,000 Mentor Mothers reached over 15 million people across Africa with life-saving services.

For m2m, this potential lies in particular with female CHWs. As a former m2m CHW myself in South Africa, and now a passionate advocate for the recognition of and investment in this critical element of the health system, I have experienced first-hand what can be achieved when we invest in female grassroots leadership. m2m’s model of training and employing local women living with HIV as CHWs—known as Mentor Mothers—across ten African countries has created a ripple effect of health and hope for the communities we work with, as well as the women we employ. Since our creation in 2001, nearly 12,000 Mentor Mothers have reached over 15 million people across a dozen African nations with life-saving health services, including maternal and child health, reproductive health, and HIV services; and helped to keep more than two million women and children alive, who would otherwise have been at risk of maternal and child mortality.

Female CHWs like m2m Mentor Mothers have a unique ability to build relationships with their clients, especially women, children, and adolescent girls, and understand what they are going through thanks to their lived experiences. We have also found that engaging men in their homes is often more effective than other spaces. Owing to the insights and skills that training alone cannot provide, and their tireless work in facilities and door-to-door in their communities, Mentor Mothers are ensuring that their peers access, and crucially, stay in care. In 2021, 100% of our clients who tested positive for HIV accessed antiretroviral therapy, compared to an 85% benchmark for Eastern and Southern Africa.

The time to invest in female CHWs is now. Not “tomorrow.”

This is what has made m2m’s impact so meaningful and long-lasting—our investment in, and employment of, African women living with HIV as CHWs.

Yet only 14% of CHWs in sub-Saharan Africa are salaried, and the health sector faces a 24% gender pay gap, despite women making up almost 70% of the total workforce. This is simply unacceptable.

The time to invest in female CHWs is now. Not “tomorrow” or “soon.” Now.

What should this investment be directed towards? Equal and fair pay, and formal recognition of the status and qualifications of female CHWs through certification and accreditation. Those are all things that motivate CHWs to work harder, build the confidence of their community in them as professionals, and show that their work is valued. This is how we help set CHWs up for success and unlock their potential to help us reach the Global Goal of Health for All. I know that this is true because this is what my own employment and remuneration as a CHW meant to me.

The under-representation of women’s voices and needs in the health care sector, and under-recognition of female CHWs is still too rife and needs to change. That is why our work with the Frontline Health Workers Coalition to ensure fair remuneration and full recognition and accreditation of female CHWs in national and global policy frameworks remains so timely and vital—and why, this week, we will be urging United Nations Member States at the WHA to embrace our ask for fairer pay and better recognition for female CHWs, and to create more opportunities to hear from more CHWs at upcoming global gatherings.

This post was originally published on the Frontline Health Workers Coalition Blog. IntraHealth International leads the secretariat for the coalition.

By Babalwa Mbono

Strategic Project Officer, mothers2mothers

HIV & AIDS Policy & Advocacy World Health Assembly Community Health Workers Africa

Is In The Media

Babalwa Mbono, Strategic Project Officer for mothers2mothers and former Mentor Mother, delivers an intervention at the United Nations Multi-Stakeholder Hearing on Universal Health Coverage in New York, May 2023.

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