Angela Nyambura Gichaga is leading a shift towards sustainable, African-led financing for community health systems.
In Africa, more than half the population lacks access to basic healthcare services. Many preventable and treatable illnesses still lead to avoidable suffering and death. At the centre of the continent’s health response are community health systems—where most people first seek help—but these systems often remain underfunded. Estimates indicate that around $4.4 billion is needed annually to adequately fund these frontline services.
Without sustainable solutions, millions risk continuing without the care they urgently need. One organisation addressing this challenge is the Financing Alliance for Health (FAH), led by founding Chief Executive Officer Angela Nyambura Gichaga. FAH aims to close the persistent financing gaps that hinder the development of effective community and primary health systems across Africa and beyond.
Gichaga started her career on the clinical frontlines, working as a medical doctor and health administrator within Kenya’s Ministry of Health. This early experience gave her firsthand insight into the challenges faced by communities and the broader healthcare system. Motivated to create lasting change at a systemic level, she pursued further academic training, earning a Master’s degree in Health Economics and Policy from the University of Adelaide in Australia. She also completed a Fellowship in Public Sector Management at Morgan State University in the United States, enhancing her capacity for strategic governance.
Her transition from public service to global consultancy provided her with a broader platform to address systemic challenges. At McKinsey & Company’s Africa Delivery Hub, Gichaga worked on socio-economic development and advised on emerging health financing models across the continent. These experiences and strategic consultancy laid the groundwork for the establishment of FAH.
The organisation
Founded in 2017, the Financing Alliance for Health (FAH) began as a modest initiative and has since expanded its operations to support governments in 16 African countries. Its mission is to develop sustainable financing solutions for community health by enabling countries to move beyond short-term budget fixes. FAH works to develop financing strategies that involve both government funding and private sector investment, with a strong emphasis on country ownership.
According to the organisation, its initiatives have helped mobilise over $120 million in catalytic funding and contributed to policy shifts that integrate community health financing into national budgets. FAH also supports leadership development and capacity building, having trained over 3,000 stakeholders in health financing and equipped more than 500 community health leaders and government fellows with technical skills.
Gichaga’s work has been recognised on several international platforms. She is a recipient of the Australian Leadership Award for Africa and a Mandela Washington Fellow under President Barack Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative. In 2018, she was named among Fortune’s World’s Greatest Leaders. More recently, she and FAH have been honoured with awards from the Skoll Foundation and the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.
For Angela Nyambura Gichaga, sustainable health financing is not only a technical or economic challenge but a broader issue of equity and development. Her focus remains on supporting African governments to take the lead in strengthening their health systems, with the long-term goal of achieving universal health coverage.
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