The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has announced investments totaling $25 million from the Johnson & Johnson Foundation and the Skoll Foundation to launch a fund that will support frontline community health workers across Africa.

Designed in partnership with the Africa Frontline First Initiative, the Africa Frontline First Catalytic Fund will combine coordinated technical assistance and implementation funding, as well as investments to scale financing, employ digital tools, increase the availability of essential life-saving commodities, and better integrate community health workers within the overall health system across up to 10 African countries. According to the Global Fund, more than 85 percent of community health workers in Africa, the majority of whom are women, are not paid for their work.

The Global Fund intends to match this commitment and other investments to bolster support for community health workers. The pledges come ahead of the Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment, which aims to raise $18 billion to fund its next three-year cycle of grants. The Global Fund estimates that the funding of $18 billion would save 20 million lives, while strengthening health and community systems to reinforce pandemic preparedness.

“For the first time in 20 years, many countries have seen HIV, TB, and malaria cases worsen and community health workers are at the forefront of fighting these diseases,” said Global Fund executive director Peter Sands. “This is a unique moment for leaders to join forces and invest in the people and structures that will fight pandemics, infectious diseases, and other health threats, now and in the future.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/hadynyah)