With over 70 delegates from 20 member states, the Africa CDC in collaboration with UNICEF organized a workshop at the African Union Commission from 6 to 10 April 2024 to support member states to plan, mobilise resources and implement strategies to realize Universal Health Coverage with a focus on improving immunisation, recruiting and retaining community health workers to improve Primary Health Care at the community level, while enhancing public health emergency preparedness and response on the continent.
Member States were represented by primary health care experts and community health directors, immunization heads and emergency public health experts.
"Let us recognise that our collective efforts and innovative thinking will significantly impact the way we will address the pressing health issues in Africa," said Dr Jean Kaseya, Director General of Africa CDC, praising the experts for their painstaking discussions on how to sustainably grow numbers community health workers on the continent.
In the spirit of unity and shared thoughts committed to transform the healthcare landscapes across our continent, Dr Kaseya paid tribute to the dedication and expertise of health experts in the 5-day meeting committed to shape Africa's improved health.
"The objective is clear," said Omar Abdi, Deputy Executive Director of Programmes, UNICEF. "We have a target to train, to deploy and support health workers in Africa," he said adding UNICEF and Africa CDC had the commitment to bring an additional half a million healthcare workers to 2 million already agreed by the African Union Heads of State.
Abdi said meeting the target had a bearing on how the continent would perform during public health emergencies and how it would positively impact reducing morbidity and mortality among children.
"The task at hand is crucial but timely since we are still facing unprecedented challenges in our healthcare systems," said Dr Mohammed Abdulaziz, head of the Disease Control Division at CDC Africa.
"The need for community health workers integration into the broader health system in Member States has never been more urgent than this time when a lot more of our professional health workforce are migrating to the developed countries for greener pastures," he added.
There is a need to share best practices, pool resources, and coordinate activities at Member States and continental levels, to maximize the impact and achieve greater efficiency in improving healthcare services across the continent through the operationalization of the continental coordination mechanism (CCM) for community health, Dr Abdulaziz said.
"To effect change, we must prioritize investment in community health workers, ensuring they are adequately compensated, skilled, and supported, with special attention to women health workers at the frontline of the response for children and their families," said Dr Laila Gad, UNICEF representative to the AU and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
Dr Gad said this investment will not only accelerate health targets for all African children but also better prepare health systems for future pandemics and public health emergencies, she added noting, partnership is paramount in this endeavour.
In February this year, Africa CDC and UNICEF announced an extended partnership framework aimed at bolstering primary healthcare, supply chain management, pooled procurement, local manufacturing, and public health emergency responses.
Dr Abdulaziz said this collaboration builds on the existing 2022-2024 Partnership Framework Agreement between Africa CDC and UNICEF, aligned with the goals of the African Union Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want.
At the core of this initiative is high-level advocacy for political prioritization and integration of Community Health Workers (CHWs) into human resource for health with the plan to deploy 50,000 CHWs over the next two years, progressing towards 500,000 by 2027. This in line with the African Union Heads of State initiative to deploy 2 million CHWs in Africa.
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To achieve this, the partnership builds on the 2017 African Union Decision on CHWs and the Monrovia Call to Action by reinforcing commitments to invest in, scale, and strengthen community health workers programs.
About Africa CDC: The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is a continental autonomous public health agency of the African Union that supports member states in their efforts to strengthen health systems and improve surveillance, emergency response, and prevention and control of diseases. Learn more at: http://www.africacdc.org
About UNICEF: UNICEF works in some of the world's toughest places, to reach the world's most disadvantaged children. Across more than 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone. Learn more at www.unicef.org
