“We are the eyes and ears of our population, and we know what’s going on in every family. We are a fundamental part of the community: we restore the confidence of families and give them access to essential services.”
- Blanca Flor Rosales Borrego, Community Health Worker, Peru
In Zambia’s Nchelenge district, Dygrace Lukwesa walks from door to door across villages in her community, treating sick children, delivering babies safely, and teaching parents how to protect their families from malnutrition. In these remote communities, Dygrace is more than a health worker. She is the lifeline that keeps families alive and connected to the care they desperately need – one everyone knows and trusts with their future.
But since the drastic and sudden funding cuts from the United States Agency for International Development last year, Dygrace and many of her colleagues have not been paid for their work. Like many frontline health workers, they are deeply committed to the communities they serve, but they also have families of their own to support. Without compensation, some are forced to make the heartbreaking decision to step away from lifesaving work to earn income and feed their children. When that happens, the fragile bridge between isolated communities and already overstretched health systems grows weaker.
For every $1 invested in their national community health worker programs, governments can yield up to a $10 return on investment. But when community health workers are unable to do their jobs, the costs are immediate and profound. Each missed day means children go unvaccinated, pregnant women lack essential support, and malnutrition can go unnoticed. Diseases spread more easily, preventable deaths increase, and decades of progress in maternal and child health risk being undone.
This is why sustained investment in frontline health workers matters.
The Global Financing Facility (GFF) recognizes that community health workers are essential to strengthening access to primary health care, especially in remote, isolated, or conflict-affected areas.
The ask: As progress on women’s and children’s survival comes under increasing pressure and inequalities widen, we urge Canada to continue its longstanding support for the Global Financing Facility by making an early pledge of $340 million over the next five years at the World Bank-International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings in April.
As a key partner supporting the World Bank’s goal of helping 1.5 billion people access quality, affordable health services by 2030, the GFF works with countries to mobilize the resources needed to expand primary health care, with community health workers at its core.
Because they live in the communities they serve, these health workers provide care built on trust and deep local knowledge. They understand cultural norms, speak the local language, and recognize the unique challenges families face.
Their role goes far beyond delivering basic services. Community health workers are often the first to detect emerging disease outbreaks and alert health authorities, making them a critical line of defense in pandemic preparedness and response.
With support from the Global Financing Facility, the government of Mali is strengthening community-based health services and expanding the reach of frontline care by:
For Dygrace, this work is deeply personal. She was once seriously ill and cared for by a nurse whose compassion left a lasting impression and inspired her to serve her own community. Thanks to Dygrace, families receive essential care for their children to grow up healthy. But sustaining her work requires strong and predictable investments in frontline health systems from her government and its partners. As we enter the final stretch of our campaign to secure strong support for the GFF, the moment for leadership is now.
If Canada comes forward early with a new pledge to the GFF at the 2026 World Bank–International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings 2026 this April, it can help set the stage for other countries to follow and ensure community health workers like Dygrace have the support they need to make sure children survive and thrive.
The ask: As progress on women’s and children’s survival comes under increasing pressure and inequalities widen, we urge Canada to continue its longstanding support for the Global Financing Facility by making an early pledge of $340 million over the next five years at the World Bank-International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings in April.
story
Ndeye always dreamed of working in health care. Recruited through a project co-funded by the GFF and the World Bank, she became the first midwife to serve the community of Fass Mambaba. Yet, once she became a midwife, she faced new challenges, such as having to earn the trust of families who had never had access to quality care in their village before.
video
In Nigeria, mothers, midwives, and other health workers all collaborate to improve their communities’ reproductive health and to ensure children receive essential services.
Find out more about the GFF’s key role in supporting this in this video.
April 1-7: World Health Worker Week
April 7: World Health Day
April 13 - 18: World Bank Spring Meetings
April 19 - 25: National Volunteer Week
April 24 - 30: World Immunization Week
April 25: World Malaria Day
Check out our full key dates calendar.
X tags: @ResultsCda, @CanadaDev, @MarkJCarney, @AnitaAnandMP, @RandeepSSarai, @YasirNaqviCDN
Last month, we encouraged you to meet with your Member of Parliament (MP) to introduce the Global Financing Facility and explain why Canada should invest in this powerful mechanism. If you had the meeting, make sure to let us know! If you haven’t secured the meeting yet, keep trying!
Now it’s time for the next step. Send an email to the Hon. Randeep Sarai, Canada’s Secretary of State (International Development), at randeep.sarai@parl.gc.ca, with your MP copied, urging him to announce a $340 million pledge to the Global Financing Facility at the upcoming World Bank–International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings 2026 this April.
In your email, highlight how an early pledge from Canada would send a strong signal to other donors, helping unlock additional investments to strengthen primary health care, support frontline health workers, and accelerate progress to end preventable maternal and child deaths. All the information you need is in this month’s Call to Action and you can attach this short GFF explainer to the email.
If you receive a response, let us know by reporting your action or emailing action@resultscanada.ca.
Your voice can help ensure Canada shows leadership at a pivotal moment: when global health systems are under strain, and the opportunity (and need) for impact has never been clearer.
Expert tip: Use the EPIC model of effective communication to get your message across clearly.
Writing a letter to the editor is a simple but powerful way to show that Canadians care about global health and international development. When local newspapers publish letters from constituents, decision-makers pay attention, it signals that these issues matter to voters and communities across Canada.
You can submit a letter anytime, but there are key moments you can link it to to increase your chances of getting it published:
To further increase your chances of publication, submit your letter to the editor to local and community newspapers.
Volunteers on average spend 1-2 hours researching and planning, 30 minutes writing their draft, and 15 minutes submitting it to newspapers.
Don’t forget to let us know you took action!
