This Giving Tuesday, Support Improved Access to Quality Healthcare for Rural Communities in Zambia
This Giving Tuesday, we’re calling on your support to help On Call Africa transform healthcare in Zambia’s most remote communities. By empowering local solutions and strengthening health systems, your generosity can bring essential care as close to the home as possible to those who need it most.
One of the ways we’re making a difference is through our work with the Zambian Ministry of Health to pilot its new comprehensive Community-Based Volunteer (CBV) Programme. CBVs are local health champions who play a critical role in bridging the gap between remote rural communities and lifesaving healthcare services that are often as far as 40km away.
Your donation could help rural communities in Zambia in the following ways:
- £25 could fund a Community Based Volunteers (CBV) salary for one month.
- £30 could provide one day of training for a CBV, equipping them with the skills and knowledge to deliver quality care close to home.
- £125 could fund a buffalo bicycle, enabling a CHW to reach remote families and provide home-based care.
- £600 could fund 6 weeks of training for a CBV, preparing them to deliver essential healthcare in their communities.
CBVs are just one part of our broader mission to build sustainable, community-driven healthcare solutions in Zambia. By supporting On Call Africa this Giving Tuesday, you’re not just funding a programme—you’re investing in a healthier, more resilient future for entire communities.
💙 Join us today. Every donation brings us closer to quality healthcare for all.
Together, we can ensure no one is left behind. Thank you for your support!
About our CBV Project
Our project aims to address the challenges faced by rural communities in Zambia in accessing healthcare services. In 2014, 46% of rural households were located more than 5km away from a health facility, exacerbating by poor roads and limited transport. Furthermore, the insufficient health worker density in rural areas posed a significant obstacle to healthcare delivery.
To tackle these issues, we have collaborated with the Ministry of Health (MOH) to strengthen the Community Based Volunteer (CBV) programs in Zambia. Our goal is to implement a standardized approach to the CBV programs, ensuring a minimum level of competency and consistency across training, incentives, and support. We have worked with the MOH to finalize a standard Community Health Service package and a 6-week training program for CBVs. At the same time, we’ve helped establish clear guidelines for the number of CBVs required per population and a legal framework to protect the volunteers.
The MOH has selected us to pilot these initiatives in both rural and peri-urban settings, aiming to showcase these facilities as centers of excellence. We are also exploring collaborations with PATH and D-tree to pilot a new digital health tool for CBVs, complementing the standardized training. Our hope is to advocate for the use of these digital health tools in the same pilot sites to maximize the impact of our efforts.
Through this project, we seek to contribute to the improvement of healthcare accessibility and quality in rural Zambia, ultimately supporting the MOH’s strategic goal of enhancing community-based healthcare delivery and working towards Universal Health Coverage.
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