As Africa Moves to Integrate CHWs to Civil Service
Kigali, Rwanda – June 2, 2025 – The Health Development Partnership for Africa and the Caribbean (HeDPAC) and the Health and Public Service Network of Africa (HaPSNA) opened its pivotal Consultative Meeting today in Kigali, Rwanda, focusing on the integration of Certified Community Health Workers (CHWs) into national civil service systems and advancing a robust framework for monitoring progress.
The Kigali meeting builds on the momentum generated by the landmark Regional Conference held in Monrovia in March 2025, where the HaPSNA framework was first developed and adopted by delegates from Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, the Ivory Coast, and host country Liberia. Today, that framework is becoming a functional reality, with a strong emphasis on two key objectives: developing a comprehensive policy package to integrate CHWs into national civil service systems and finalizing the Delivery Maturity Index, a strategic tool to assess the effectiveness and responsiveness of national community healthcare delivery systems.
The consultative meeting places a strong focus on inter-sectoral collaboration, especially between Ministries of Health and Civil/Public Service Agencies. Key areas of discussion include salary alignment, wage structuring, and institutional recognition of CHWs as part of building long-term system resilience.
Delivering his opening statement, HaPSNA Chairman Dr. Josiah F. Joekai, Jr. emphasized the urgency of harmonizing efforts across the continent to formalize and empower frontline health workers. He conveyed greetings from His Excellency Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr., President of the Republic of Liberia, and underscored Liberia’s leadership in this regional initiative.
“This meeting is not merely a continuation of past discussions,” said Dr. Joekai. “It is a foundational step in operationalizing our shared vision for a coordinated, country-led approach to community health,” he said. He furthered, “Our collective responsibility is to institutionalize the role of community health workers, who are often the first and sometimes the only point of contact for healthcare in remote and underserved communities,”
The Chairman, Dr. Joekai explained that the frameworks are essential instruments for assessing and strengthening the capacities of vital health worker cadres including Community Health Services Supervisors (CHSSs), Community Health Assistants (CHAs), Community Health Promoters (CHPs), and Trained and Traditional Midwives (TTMs) across Africa.
Dr. Joekai highlighted Liberia’s progress since the Monrovia Conference when he said the country has initiated a structured transition of CHWs and long-serving volunteers onto its national payroll system through the National Community Health Program (NCHP). He also presented Liberia’s country status report, featuring disaggregated data by cadre and service area during day one of the meeting, including the enrollment of 600 volunteered community health workers into the Liberian government of Liberia’s centralized payroll system amongst others.
The two-day meeting convenes ministers, policymakers, civil service leaders, development partners, and health experts from across the Central African Republic, Rwanda, and members of the founding states.
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