In March, Last Mile Health’s Malawi team facilitated an advocacy strategy workshop in partnership with the Community Health Services Section of the Ministry of Health. Participants convened for three days to develop a roadmap toward achieving key funding and policy goals in advancing Malawi’s national community health strategy.
Doreen Namagetsi Ali speaks at the advocacy strategy workshop.
“When we are working in the community, the resources are few,” said Doreen Namagetsi Ali, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Health’s Community Health Services Section. “This meeting is about coming up with a plan on how to advocate for resources and how to move forward. We are also working on the community front–it is about our programs including community health.”
The team worked to generate an evidence-based plan for policy action to strengthen the financing of national community health services and scale frontline delivery, with the overall goal of increasing the Ministry of Health’s community health budget by $200 million by 2030. The strategy will steer a policy conversations among decision- makers, donors, implementing partners and community health advocates on resource mobilization, allocation, and utilization for community health, driven by three key tactics:
- National-level budget advocacy targeting legislators, treasury, and donors;
- Partner coordination to harmonize funding, map resources, and reduce fragmentation; and
- District-level collaboration to influence planning, accountability, and community engagement.
Participants in the advocacy strategy workshop.
Workshop participants developed an action plan, and in April and May, Last Mile Health will support the Community Health Services Section to convene a writing workshop for the strategy and a meeting with the Ministry of Health’s community health worker technical working group. With the Ministry’s approval, Last Mile Health will design and launch the strategy by June.
A unified, well-funded health system will help ensure consistent delivery of lifesaving care to Malawians on the community health level–reaching people in their own communities, no matter how rural or remote.
“We stand here in solidarity to support community health,” said Dalitso Baloyi, Last Mile Health’s Country Director in Malawi. “We need to work collaboratively and generate evidence if we are to drive the community health advocacy agenda in Malawi.”
