Last Mile Health saves lives in the world's most remote communities.
Raj Panjabi was born in Liberia and fled during the civil war with his family when he was nine. When Raj returned as a medical student years later, he learned there were only 51 doctors for a country of 4 million people.
Raj and his co-founders launched Last Mile Health and set out to recruit, train, and equip a cadre of community health workers (CHWs) who would provide a range of 30 basic services in remote areas of Liberia.
Last Mile Health recruits community members who may have a middle- to high-school education and can be trained and equipped to provide high-impact medical care within a matter of weeks. The organization played a vital role in helping to contain the spread of Ebola by supporting the Liberian government in training more than 1,500 CHWs to manage critical health needs. They now support the Liberian Ministry of Health to implement this approach nationwide, training an additional 4,000 CHWs alongside the Government of Liberia in a historic National Community Health Assistant Program that will reach 1.2 million people. Last Mile Health aims to scale globally and is partnering with the governments of Ethiopia, Malawi, and Uganda to strengthen the quality of national community health systems.
Raj is a 2011 Echoing Green Fellow and joined the Echoing Green Board of Directors in 2018.
