Leaders & Partners Forum: Health leaders at Teach to Reach 11 (6 December 2024)

# Health leaders share practical solutions at Teach to Reach forum “We would like to strengthen the capacity of community health promoters and align with global efforts in health education,” said Alicia Sheringham from Kenya’s national association for community health workers (ARCHVOG) during the December 5 Leaders and Partners Forum. Her organization, like many others joining Teach to Reach 11, aims to connect local health needs with broader health initiatives. The forum brought together health workers from community clinics to national programs to share what works in their communities. This continues the peer learning approach that engaged over 21,000 participants in June 2024, with 80% working at district and facility levels. ## Real challenges, real solutions In Nigeria’s Bauchi State, Ibilola Atureta explained how Glorious Elixir Foundation conducts medical outreach: “We do medical outreaches to some communities here. Teach to Reach has exposed me to community and collaboration we can learn from ourselves.” Small group discussions revealed common challenges across borders. Bernard Oteno, whose year-old organization works on malaria prevention in Kenya, noted their main barrier: “The main challenge we still have is funding, because it’s just a small organization that has about 50 people, community health workers coming together.” ## Learning from each other In structured networking sessions, participants shared specific solutions despite technical challenges. One group discussion included experiences from Ghana about staffing issues, vaccine availability challenges in Abuja, and efforts to involve community health workers in decision-making in Kenya. Dr. Mahesh Bhatt, working in India’s Himalayan region, described the value of these connections: “If somebody is doing some work on immunization in other part of the world, somebody else is also doing the same thing - they can connect with each other and discuss the issues and barriers as well as the breakthroughs.” ## Next steps The forum preceded sessions focusing on: - Nigeria’s immunization collaborative - Malaria prevention and control with RBM Partnership - Climate change health impacts with Grand Challenges Canada Organizations interested in participating can learn more through the conference platform. There is no cost for locally-led organizations serving community needs. The forum demonstrates how connecting health workers across borders helps share practical solutions to common challenges. As Chinwe Enechukwu noted after a networking session: “It was a wonderful room. I would love to go back and continue with the discussion.”