The Coalition, hosted by IntraHealth International, is leading civil society participation. 

The World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with Member States and partners—including the Frontline Health Workers Coalition hosted by IntraHealth International—is convening the inaugural Africa Health Workforce Investment Forum in Windhoek, Namibia from May 6 - 8, 2024. 

The Forum will engage approximately 150 key decision-makers and actors—including African ministers of health, finance, education, and labor along with donors and civil society—to obtain consensus and commitment on the first-ever Africa Health Workforce Investment Charter. 

Find out more about IntraHealth International's participation in the Forum. 

With a bold target of halving Africa's 6.1 million health workforce shortage, the pioneering Charter aims to mobilize and align domestic and partner funding to strengthen, grow, and retain the continent's health workforce, especially in rural and primary health care settings. Developed by the WHO Regional African Office (WHO/AFRO) in collaboration with Member States and partners, the Charter promotes a multisectoral approach to health workforce development. 

Civil society input at the Forum is critical

The Frontline Health Workers Coalition is leading civil society participation at the Forum to share perspectives as organizations and allies working directly with countries and funders to build the health workforce and address challenges. Implementing partners like the Coalition's 40+ organizational members, are critical in the long-term, not only for advocating to secure health workforce investments but also for operationalizing the Charter. 

IntraHealth's Tina Flores, director of the Coalition, and members of the Coalition's Technical Working Group helped design three Forum sessions: 

• Operationalizing the Charter 

• Bridging the education to employment gap: Unlocking fiscal space for absorption and employment of newly trained Health workers 

• Integrating and professionalizing community health workers to strengthen primary health care. 

Five experts will represent the Coalition at the Forum: 

• Janet Muriuki, Senior Director, Health Workforce Development, IntraHealth 
• Rachel Deussom, Senior Director, Health Practice, Chemonics
• Amina Dorayi, Nigeria Country Director, Pathfinder
• Claire Jones, Senior Health Financing Specialist, Local Health System Sustainability (LHSS) Project, Namibia, Abt Global
• Mei Li, Senior Private Sector Partnerships Officer, Partners in Health.

Follow the Forum

For timely updates on the Forum, follow WHO/AFRO on X and the Frontline Health Workers Coalition on LinkedIn. 

Other key partners supporting the Forum include the ILO-OECD-WHO Working for Health Programme and its Multi-Partner Trust Fund and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Join us!

The Frontline Health Workers Coalition is a growing group of international organizations in 100 countries whose vision is that every community should have access to all cadres of trained, compensated, safe and supported health workers who are able to provide quality essential health services, as well as respond to pandemic threats and address noncommunicable diseases. IntraHealth has led the Coalition's secretariat since 2012.

Organizations interested in health workforce advocacy can apply to be a member of the Frontline Health Workers Coalition. Donors can provide funding to grow the coalition’s activities or sponsor specific events. Please contact the Coalition to discuss how we can collaborate.