Strengthening Africa's health workforce: A decade of investment

One of the most significant barriers to accessing basic healthcare in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is a chronic shortage of trained and supported frontline health workers operating within communities.

Inadequate training infrastructure and resources for pre- and in-service training of mid-level health workers, community health workers (CHWs) and health managers are major obstacles to scaling up the development of the continent’s health workforce.

The Frontline Health Worker Training Programme, Amref Health Africa’s ten-year partnership with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), aimed to increase the numbers of trained health workers in hard-to-reach and marginalised communities to address the health challenges affecting pregnant women and under-fives in East and Southern Africa. The main focus of our shared work was capacity-building, training mid-level health workers and CHWs, and empowering communities through partnering with Ministries of Health (MoH) and private sector and NGO partners identified by Amref and/or GSK.

The programme was implemented across thirteen countries over a period of ten years: Angola (with Africare), Burundi (with Adventist Development and Relief Association), Djibouti, Ethiopia, Lesotho (with Christian Health Association of Lesotho), Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda (with Society for Family Health), South Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia.