World Health Worker Week (1st-7th of April) is a week led by the Frontline Health Workers Coalition (FHWC) and its partners, to bring together advocates, health workers, leaders, and communities around the world to call for greater funding and faster implementation of commitments made to protect and support the health workforce—especially women community health workers. As an FHWC member, mothers2mothers (m2m) is joining in this call to urge policymakers and decision-makers to translate policies and promises into long-term investments in the health workforce and integration in health systems—doing so not only strengthens the health of communities, but also pays other development dividends.
As an African organisation that has invested in local women leadership for more than two decades, by training and employing women living with HIV as community health workers (known as Mentor Mothers), we have seen the ripple effect of care and well-being that can be created when this health workforce gets the support—human, material, …