Africa CDC signs MoU with AFF to deploy 200,000 community health workers throughout Africa

KENYA—The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and Africa Frontline First (AFF) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to deepen their partnership and support the deployment of 200,000 community health workers (CHWs) across Africa.

The agreement was signed during the World Health Summit Regional Meeting 2026 in Nairobi and marks a major step in strengthening community-based healthcare systems across the continent.

It also builds on earlier collaboration between the two organizations from 2023 to 2025.

Under the new 2026–2028 action plan, AFF will contribute financing and technical support, while Africa CDC will provide coordination and leadership.

Together, they aim to help African Union member states meet the target of deploying 2 million polyvalent CHWs by 2030.

The initiative also seeks to integrate CHWs into national health systems and expand access to primary healthcare services.

Progress made since 2023

Africa CDC, AFF, and the Global Fund reported significant gains during their previous partnership period.

These efforts focused on increasing political commitment, expanding financing, and improving health system capacity.

Several governments, including Guinea, Burkina Faso, Uganda, and Liberia, committed domestic resources for community health through their national budgets.

This move helped strengthen long-term ownership of CHW programmes and reduced dependence on external donors.

The partnership also helped secure more than US$900 million in Global Fund commitments for community health.

In addition, it supported the deployment and strengthening of over 106,000 CHWs and mobilized more than US$218 million for national CHW programmes.

Strengthening systems and digital tools

Beyond financing, the collaboration invested in stronger health systems.

Partners improved digital infrastructure, data systems, and integrated disease surveillance tools to enhance service delivery, accountability, and resilience.

They also developed strategic planning tools, including a continental investment case for community health programmes and a scorecard designed to track progress and improve coordination.

These measures helped shift many countries away from fragmented, disease-specific programmes toward more integrated community health systems.

Leaders highlight urgency

Africa CDC Director General Dr. Jean Kaseya said Africa must now turn commitments into measurable results.

He noted that partnerships such as the one with AFF are vital to accelerating the deployment of digitally enabled CHWs and transforming primary healthcare while advancing health security and sovereignty across the continent.

Nan Chen, Co-Executive Director of Africa Frontline First, said many health systems remain vulnerable because community health financing still depends heavily on donors.

She added that the partnership aims to create durable systems that are led and sustained by African countries themselves.

Priorities for 2026–2028

Over the next three years, the partnership will focus on five areas: scaling CHW deployment based on national needs, increasing sustainable domestic financing, professionalizing the workforce through training and certification, integrating CHWs into primary healthcare and emergency preparedness, and measuring programme impact through stronger monitoring systems.