FG Recommits To Improved Welfare for Community Health Workers

Vice President Kashim Shettima has reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to guaranteeing legal rights, regular salaries and improved welfare for community health workers across Nigeria. In a statement signed by Stanley Nkwocha, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications, Office of the Vice President, Shettima said this……

Vice President Kashim Shettima has reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to guaranteeing legal rights, regular salaries and improved welfare for community health workers across Nigeria.

In a statement signed by Stanley Nkwocha, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications, Office of the Vice President, Shettima said this on Thursday in Abuja during the launch of the Community Health Programme Continental Acceleration Plan 2026–2030 at the Continental High-Level Forum on a Fit-for-Purpose Health Workforce.

The Vice President said Nigeria could not afford to neglect community health workers, whose contributions include identifying maternal health risks, locating unvaccinated children, gathering household data and detecting disease outbreaks.

“If you look around today, if you look across Africa, the number of community health workers is increasing. But we cannot deliver on this promise unless we acknowledge the threats that surround us.

“Our Community Health Programme Continental Acceleration Plan focuses on governance, primary care integration, workforce development, digital systems, service delivery, financing, supplies and accountability as drivers of our future. A future where workers are guaranteed legal recognition, certification, dependable salaries, supervision and careers,” he said.

Shettima noted that the distance between a household and a health worker could determine whether a person survives or dies, stressing the need for governments to expand access to healthcare regardless of where people live.

He said President Bola Tinubu had played a leading role in financing health reforms and advancing Africa’s health workforce agenda as the African Union Champion for Human Resources for Health and Community Health Delivery Partnership.

The Vice President recalled that Nigeria’s Ministers of Health and Finance convened a meeting in Addis Ababa in February on behalf of the President.

He also said Nigeria must account for the gap between the commitments made under the 2001 Abuja Declaration, which called for African countries to allocate at least 15 per cent of their national budgets to health, and the number of households that still lack access to healthcare.

Shettima expressed appreciation to institutions and development partners supporting the initiative, including the African Union Commission, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), UNICEF, the Community Health Delivery Partnership, the World Health Organisation and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

He said community health workers had played an important role in helping countries respond to disease threats.

“We cannot afford the luxury of taking our community health workers for granted. We have survived the storms of a world threatened by diseases because they recognise maternal danger, because they find unvaccinated children, because they gather household data and, very importantly, because they detect outbreaks,” he said.

According to the Vice President, health security requires sufficient numbers of skilled workers who are fairly remunerated, supported and deployed equitably.

He warned that the reduction in external health financing posed a challenge to community healthcare delivery, noting that “external health financing is shrinking, while 85 per cent of Member States depend heavily on donors for community health.”

Shettima said Nigeria’s community health workforce remained below the estimated 315,000 workers required by 2030.

He added that the Tinubu administration’s Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative had secured more than $2.2 billion in commitments, with programmes aimed at revitalising over 17,000 primary healthcare centres and training 120,000 frontline workers.

“This is why President Tinubu’s Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative has secured over US$2.2 billion in commitments, with programmes to revitalise over 17,000 primary health centres and train 120,000 frontline workers. Our goal is 100,000 salaried community health workers by 2027,” he said.

On the continental acceleration plan, Shettima said the initiative would promote better-equipped health workers, reliable medical supplies, community participation and integrated digital registries under African control.

“The Plan calls for properly equipped health workers, reliable medical supplies, community participation and integrated digital registries under African control.

“Its ambitious scenario requires about US$28 billion through 2030, with over 80 per cent devoted to recurrent costs, and projects US$19 in economic and social benefits for every dollar invested,” he said.

The Vice President stressed that achieving the projected benefits would depend on sustained financing and national ownership of the programme.

“These returns will be measured in healthier communities and lives saved. But they depend on sustained financing. Every country must therefore commit to one nationally owned plan, one budget and one monitoring framework,” he added.

Earlier, the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Kunle Salako, commended Tinubu for approving Nigeria’s hosting of the forum and the launch of the continental plan.

Salako said the President’s leadership as African Union Champion for Human Resources for Health and Community Health Delivery Partnership reflected Nigeria’s commitment to the continent’s target of deploying two million community health workers by 2030.

He said the acceleration plan aligned with the Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly its focus on strengthening disease surveillance and community resilience.

The minister described the plan as an ambitious but achievable initiative supported by key stakeholders, adding that collaboration among African leaders and development partners was necessary to strengthen primary healthcare and protect vulnerable populations.

Egypt’s Deputy Minister of Health for Population and Family Development, Dr Abla Al-Alfi, also called for stronger primary healthcare systems and greater support for community health workers to improve maternal and family health outcomes.

She said Egypt was working with government institutions, including the Ministries of Social Solidarity and Youth, to increase health awareness, strengthen community engagement and reduce preventable maternal deaths.

“Our success depends on optimising primary healthcare and focusing on community health workers, who are essential for raising health awareness among mothers and families,” she said.

Similarly, the Deputy Director-General of Africa CDC, Dr Raji Tajudeen, urged African governments to strengthen their political commitment to community healthcare, noting that the continent was behind its target of deploying two million community health workers by 2030.

Tajudeen recalled that African leaders adopted the target in 2016 but had achieved barely 50 per cent of it. He identified recurring infectious disease outbreaks, declining international development assistance for health and inadequate operational readiness at primary healthcare facilities as major challenges.

He said the African Union Assembly called for renewed political action in 2025, leading to Tinubu’s appointment as Champion for Human Resources for Health and Community Health Delivery Partnership.

Tajudeen added that Africa CDC was working with the African Union’s 55 member states and development partners to identify barriers to deploying community health workers and develop an acceleration plan.

He also commended Nigeria’s response to the Ebola incident, praising the country’s primary healthcare system and efforts to contain the outbreak.

“Let me congratulate Nigeria for the excellent work you have done in primary healthcare, community health systems and universal health coverage, and your excellent response to the Ebola outbreak and how you have contained it. We have so much to learn from Nigeria,” he said.

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