Today, Africa Frontline First is releasing ‘Financing Progress towards Health Sovereignty’, a deep-dive into how country-led investment in community health systems is transforming frontline delivery across the continent.
Community health workers (CHWs) are among the highest-return investments in global health. Yet, community health remains underfunded. There’s a significant investment gap of $4.3 billion annually for what is needed to professionalize and support CHWs, expand coverage and meet African Union targets. Too often, that gap isn’t just about money. It’s about how the money moves: fragmented across donors, projects, and pilots that governments can’t own, adopt, or scale.
Africa Frontline First was built to change that. Since 2023, we’ve mobilized catalytic financing, paired it with technical assistance that ensures it’s spent well, and built the country and regional partnerships that make both sustainable — helping governments begin to move from passive recipients of donor projects to active dealmakers who direct and co-finance their own national health workforces.
Across 18 countries, and even through one of the most turbulent periods in global health financing history, that commitment has held. We have supported 106,826 CHWs, reaching 76 million people with care, and unlocked more than $250 million in financing. All 18 government partners have completed a systems-maturity assessment, ten have made public commitments to increase domestic financing, and six already hold long-term financing plans. That foundation rests on verified masterlists, digital payment integrations, and the institutional trust required for lasting change.
The work now is to protect and build on that progress, and to keep supporting CHWs today and in the future.