The Johnson & Johnson Foundation has announced an additional $5 million investment in the Africa Frontline First (AFF) Catalytic Fund. This brings the foundation’s total commitment to $20 million, aimed at supporting the training and deployment of 200,000 professional community health workers (CHWs) across national health systems in Africa.
The AFF Catalytic Fund, hosted by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB & Malaria, was launched in 2022. Since then, it has pooled $220 million from global and domestic sources across public and private sectors. These investments have helped recruit, train, and integrate more than 68,000 professional CHWs in eight priority countries, reaching approximately 40 million people.
This latest commitment is part of J&J CareCommunity—a global social impact platform by Johnson & Johnson and its foundation—focused on supporting nurses and community health workers to improve access to quality care worldwide.
“Community health workers are uniquely positioned to deliver essential health services in their communities,” said Vanessa Broadhurst, Executive Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs at Johnson & Johnson. “Expanding their numbers and addressing the challenges they face in delivering quality care has the potential to save millions of lives and lay the groundwork for stronger, locally-led health systems across Africa.”
CHWs play a key role as trusted members within their communities by improving health outcomes and expanding access to care while reducing costs. However, only one out of every eight healthcare workers in Africa is a community health worker; most are unpaid.
“We welcome the Johnson & Johnson Foundation’s expanded investment in the AFF Catalytic Fund,” said Peter Sands, Executive Director of The Global Fund. “With greater investment we can unlock the full potential and ensure communities have access to professionalized, trained, compensated and integrated community health workers.”
The AFF Catalytic Fund is a collaborative effort involving Africa Frontline First, Africa CDC, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB & Malaria—with founding support from both the Johnson & Johnson Foundation and Skoll Foundation. Its goal is to strengthen community health programs by scaling up professional CHWs to serve 100 million people by 2030. The initiative receives backing from African leaders including Ellen Johnson Sirleaf—Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former President of Liberia.
According to WHO's global strategy on human resources for health (https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241511131), integrating CHWs into national systems is seen as an effective way to address workforce shortages across low- and middle-income countries.
The Global Fund works with local governments through this initiative focusing on sustainable financing for long-term impact; strengthening policies; implementing digital tools; advancing CHW professionalization; and ensuring reliable supply chains.
The Johnson & Johnson Foundation operates as a registered charitable organization funded solely by Johnson & Johnson. It supports partnerships that aim to close gaps between communities and needed healthcare services—particularly championing nurses and community health workers.
Johnson & Johnson states its mission is centered around advancing healthcare innovation for disease prevention, treatment improvements, smarter solutions, and personalizing patient care globally.