The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), in collaboration with the Federal Government of Nigeria and key continental partners, is convening a high-level ministerial summit in Abuja to address the continent’s deepening health workforce shortage.
Culminating in a major high-level ministerial session on October 30, 2026, the forum focuses on turning ambitious continental targets into fully funded national programs to recruit, train, deploy, and retain two million community health workers across Africa by 2030.
​The meeting takes place under the political leadership of Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who serves as the African Union Champion for Human Resources for Health and the Community Health Delivery Partnership.
Held alongside African health and finance ministers, senior AU officials, international development partners, and frontline health representatives, the gathering comes at a critical juncture for regional healthcare infrastructure.
Recent outbreaks of disease, including mpox and Ebola, have further underscored the urgency of establishing a well-resourced, equitable network of frontline responders capable of driving early detection, surveillance, and primary care delivery.
​Africa faces an overarching health workforce deficit projected to reach 5.85 million personnel by 2030. As of 2024, the continent maintained approximately 1.15 million community health workers, leaving a substantial gap in reaching the target needed to ensure universal primary healthcare access and health security.
Addressing these systemic challenges requires strong domestic leadership and long-term financial backing across member states.
​According to Dr. Jean Kaseya, Director-General of the Africa CDC, establishing an adequately trained, equipped, and sustainably funded community health workforce is essential to guaranteeing Africa’s health security and health sovereignty.
He emphasized that recent public health emergencies repeatedly prove that the continent’s first and most critical line of defense lies directly at the community level.
​To convert continental commitments into measurable outcomes, delegates at the Abuja forum will launch the Continental Community Health Acceleration Plan, the Continental Community Health Programme Scorecard, and the next cycle of the Continental Community Health Landscape Survey.
Participating delegations are tasked with formulating costed national acceleration plans spanning 2026 to 2030, while establishing harmonized training curricula, sustainable domestic funding channels, and career retention pathways for community health workers.
