Investing in community health systems
Partners since
2019
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.
“It’s an honor to support work of this significance and scale, to ensure that every person in Liberia has access to basic health care. It’s also a tangible example of how philanthropy can play a more effective role in supporting large-scale change.”
Olivia Leland, Founder and CEO of Co-Impact
Olivia Leland, Founder and CEO of Co-Impact
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
“Liberia has made great progress building a government-led and unified national community health worker program that is rooted in quality. This partnership not only seeks to bring the program to scale, but looks to further engage new and existing partners to demonstrate what’s possible when governments invest in community health workforces to advance universal health coverage.”
Raj Panjabi, Co-Founder and CEO of Last Mile Health
Raj Panjabi, Co-Founder and CEO of 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.