Co-Impact, Last Mile Health and the Global Fund are strengthening support to the government of Liberia’s national community health worker program, increasing domestic investment and expanding access to health care in rural and remote areas.
Co-Impact, a collaborative philanthropy initiative focused on systems change, launched a five-year partnership in 2019 with the Government of Liberia, Last Mile Health and the Global Fund to invest US$20 million to scale up the National Community Health Assistant Program in Liberia and support the country to build and sustain its community health system. The partnership includes a US$8 million pledge to the Global Fund for 2019-2024.
Launched in 2016, Liberia’s National Community Health Assistant Program has deployed over 3,500 community health workers and nurse supervisors, who have conducted 2.3 million home visits.
An estimated 20% of nationally reported malaria cases among children under age 5 are diagnosed by community health workers. With the support of Co-Impact, the government of Liberia is fully scaling this program to provide access to community-based primary health care services to 1.2 million people. This supports the government’s goal to reduce the under-5 mortality rate by 20%.
Community health worker Laura Gbee performs a rapid diagnostic test on a young patient in Liberia as part of the National Community Health Assistant Program. Photo: Last Mile Health
The partnership, bringing together a philanthropic investor (Co-Impact), a health nonprofit (Last Mile Health), a government (Liberia), and the Global Fund as catalytic partner, can serve as a model for driving change in countries with the engagement of private donors.