Uganda deploys 348 newly trained community health workers to improve primary healthcare access

UGANDA—Uganda took a significant step toward strengthening primary health care on 4 March 2026, when 348 newly trained Community Health Extension Workers (CHEWs) graduated in simultaneous ceremonies held in Mbarara City and Rukungiri District.

This deployment represents a landmark achievement in the country’s ongoing effort to build resilient community health systems and move closer to Universal Health Coverage.

The passing-out ceremony marked far more than a routine personnel deployment.

It represented tangible progress in Uganda’s ambitious strategy to transform healthcare delivery at the grassroots level, where most people seek treatment and where preventive measures prove most effective.

Mbarara City and District produced 138 graduates, while Rukungiri District contributed 210 newly qualified health workers.

Scaling up the workforce

The newly deployed cohort brings Uganda’s total trained CHEWs to 5,616 health workers.

The Ministry of Health maintains an aggressive target of reaching 21,432 CHEWs by 2029 to achieve comprehensive coverage at the parish level.

Each CHEW completed six months of competency-based training at a cost of approximately USD 2,200 per trainee.

Currently, CHEWs operate across 40 districts, with expansion scheduled to reach 30 additional districts by August 2026.

Minister of Health Dr Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero presided over the ceremony, delivering remarks that emphasized the critical role these workers play in community-centered healthcare.

She called CHEWs the “foundation of a resilient PHC system,” urging them to prioritize sanitation, hygiene promotion, preventive health behaviors, and timely patient referrals to established health facilities.

International support and early results

WHO Representative Dr Kasonde Mwinga pledged sustained technical support across programme design, monitoring, supervision frameworks, and emergency preparedness.

She emphasized that CHEWs expand essential promotive, preventive, and basic curative services to underserved populations, thereby reducing health inequities and improving outcomes across communities.

The CHEW programme builds upon encouraging early results.

Since a 2022 pilot launched in Mayuge, Lira, and Lira City, districts implementing the model have recorded improved immunisation coverage, increased antenatal care attendance, higher facility-based delivery rates, and earlier detection of malnutrition compared to areas without CHEWs.

These gains reflect the programme’s implementation science methodology, whereby district teams and researchers continuously refine strategies using real-time performance data.

Strengthening the path forward

However, challenges remain, whereby the complete integration of CHEWs into district and national health structures continues as an ongoing process.

WHO stressed the necessity for stronger coordination mechanisms, enhanced monitoring systems, and sustainable government-led financing across all districts.

As the 348 graduates assume their posts, Uganda moves closer to realizing its long-term vision for a robust, people-centered primary healthcare system that meets community health needs effectively and equitably.