From a $6,000 wedding gift to a $3 million humanitarian award for Last Mile Health
Last Mile Health, launched with $6,000 raised at a wedding, has been awarded the $3 million Conrad H. Hilton Humanitarian Prize.
In 2007 Dr. Raj Panjabi used $6,000 contributed by his wedding guests to create Last Mile Health, a program dedicated to delivering medical services to Liberia’s most hard-to-reach areas. The organization trains community health workers—individuals with primary-school education—to treat common childhood diseases, support pregnant women and detect outbreaks. Partnering with the Liberian government, the Global Fund and other donors, it provided HIV care, trained more than 1,300 workers during the 2014-16 Ebola epidemic, and supplied 6.2 million pieces of PPE during the COVID-19 pandemic, helping the country achieve an 81 % vaccination rate.
Operating now in Liberia, Ethiopia, Malawi and Sierra Leone, Last Mile Health supports 20,000 workers who serve 32 million people. It has been honored with the Conrad H. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, which includes a $3 million grant. Executives Lisha McCormick and Peter Laugharn praised the model’s relevance, and President emeritus Panjabi said the funds will accelerate expansion toward 50 million beneficiaries by 2028, highlighting the power of community-based health delivery.
Why it matters
The award validates a low-cost, community-worker model that can dramatically improve health access in remote, low-resource regions.
In this story