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Health Worker Training

We strengthen health systems in a way that's sustainable by building the capacity of health workers at all levels: community health workers, clinical officers, nurses, midwives, and more.

Health Worker Training

Amref Health Africa's vision is of a world where everyone, everywhere, has access to high-quality and affordable healthcare.

Sustainable Development Goal 3 commits the world to ensuring “healthy lives and [promoting] well-being for all at all ages”. To make that vision a reality, UN Member States have agreed to work towards achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2030. UHC means that everyone, everywhere should be able to access high-quality healthcare that does not leave them struggling financially. It is based on the belief that health is a human right: that where a person lives should not determine how long, or how well, they live.

What challenges is Africa facing when it comes to health?

One of the biggest health challenges facing low- and middle-income countries is a chronic shortage of trained health workers operating in communities, where they are within easy reach of the people who need them. Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) was estimating that the global shortage of health workers (doctors, nurses, midwives and more) is likely to reach 18 million by 2030.

A third of that shortage – 6 million health workers – will be in Africa alone.

Sixteen countries in the region have less than one health worker for every 1,000 members of the population.* The WHO’s target is 10.9 health workers per 1,000 members of the population. Only one country in sub-Saharan Africa meets this target.

* 'Africa's shortage of health workers is acute and profound, with only one country in the region having the required [number of] health workers (10.9 per 1,000 population) to deliver essential health services'. Read more here

What challenges is Africa facing when it comes to health?

Barriers to Health

By 2030, there will be a global shortage of
18 million
. . . with a gap of
6 million
An additional
9 million

What is Amref Health Africa doing to help?

Amref Health Africa’s goal is twofold:

  • to ensure the healthcare available to people in Africa is of a high quality, and
  • to ensure that care is delivered by health workers who are trained, who have the equipment and support they need, and who are sufficient in number to meet the needs of the communities they serve.

What is Amref Health Africa doing to help?

To meet these goals, we:

In short, we close the gap between people and services, bringing high-quality healthcare closer to where people live and work.

[Photo credits: CHW Dorothy visiting pregnant mother at home (c) Gregg Telussa; CHW Community Outreach Total Health Project, Okalu Cwan Village, Amuru District Uganda (c) Ambrose Watanda; CHW, Kibera, (c) Brian Otieno; Community Health Workers Vaccine Solidarity, Kibera (c) Brian Otieno; CHW spreading health information on car speaker (c) Kevin Gitonga].

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