Press Release 

Financing Alliance for Health (FAH),  has recently announced the launch of an innovative self-assessment tool to strengthen financing for community health programs in Sub-Saharan Africa and accelerate progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The Community Health Financing (CHF) Assessment Toolkit, a unique and innovative self-assessment resource designed to help governments, funders, and implementing partners develop sustainable financing strategies for national and sub-national community health programs. This evidence-based toolkit addresses the critical need for innovative, context-specific financing approaches to build robust community health systems and accelerate progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC). 

The toolkit has already demonstrated impact in its pilot project. “The CHFA tool made it possible to assess the current situation of community health financing in Senegal for the first time, to identify bottlenecks, to propose strategies for developing community health interventions and to enable different stakeholders to better define priorities and other programmatic aspects of interventions. Thanks to technical and financial support from FAH, the country has developed and is implementing a five-year action plan 2024-2028 to improve community health financing.” said Dr Amy Mbacke, Community Health Specialist, Ministry of Health and Social Action, Senegal.  

Key features of the toolkit include: 

  1. Comprehensive evaluation of program context, revenue raising, and innovative financing opportunities 
  2. Automated, customizable recommendations based on global best practices 
  3. Gender-responsive approach to ensure equitable and inclusive financing 
  4. Action planning framework to translate insights into concrete next steps 

“We developed this toolkit to address a critical gap in financing for community health. Governments need a simple, yet powerful tool to self-assess their programs, identify best investments, and create actionable plans for sustainable financing over the long term. This toolkit empowers them to do just that, quickly and easily,” said Shivani Shukla, developer of the CHFA Toolkit. 

Representatives from WHO, UNICEF, AMREF, and Plan International in Senegal have praised the CHFA tool as a valuable advancement in community health financing evaluation, highlighting its robust functionality and practical insights. 

The CHF Assessment Toolkit is now available for governments, funders, and implementing partners. To request access or learn more, visit The Community Health Financing (CHF) Assessment Toolkit – Financing Alliance for Health or contact Partnerships@financingalliance.org. 

 About Financing Alliance for Health 

Financing Alliance for Health (FAH) is an Africa-based, African-led partnership that works with governments, donors, and the private sector to address systemic financing challenges to scaling primary and community health programs across sub-Saharan Africa.​

Working with Primary Health and Community Health directorates FAH has supported 22 governments across 16 countries with:

  • Political prioritization – (Support the PH and CH team identify champions who will make a case for CH & support with advocacy for prioritization of CH)
  • Developing strategies (implementation plans) and policies
  • Developing investment cases/ plans
  • Resource tracking and resource mobilization- (structuring of financing mechanisms and approaches for at-scale in primary & community health financing)