Two million neighbours in scrubs: Africa sets out to double its community health workforce by 2030

They are the health workers who knock on doors: checking on mothers, vaccinating children, collecting household health data and spotting disease outbreaks before hospitals ever hear of them. In Abuja, 51 African countries and more than 30 partners launched the Community Health Programme Continental Acceleration Plan 2026-2030, aiming to grow the continent's community health workforce from about 1,059,085 workers today to two million by 2030. Nigeria pledged 100,000 new salaried community health workers by the end of 2028, alongside plans to rehabilitate more than 17,000 primary healthcare centres and train 120,000 frontline workers. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention estimates the plan needs about $28 billion over its life — and that every dollar invested could return up to $19 in economic and social benefits.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: institutional program