The past three years have been tough.
Not only has Zimbabwe’s health care system faced the worst pandemic since HIV/Aids in the early 90s.
Covid-19 exposed the weak healthcare systems in the majority of African countries and forced Governments to take stock of what needed to be addressed to ensure that they could withstand any other shock of that magnitude in future.
As 2022 comes to an end, Zimbabwe can be counted among those countries that have taken significant steps to improve health facilities across the country to boost the quality of health care for citizens.
This is in line with President Mnangagwa’s vision of matching best international practices as a pre-requisite for an upper middle income society.
Identifying the gaps
When the year began, Zimbabwe was still in the midst of the fourth wave of the pandemic although new cases were beginning to decline in response to the interventions that had been put in place since 2020.
Government had realised that the health facilities were not coping with the demands brought about by this new pandemic. Not only was the infrastructure old, the machinery and equipment inside were nothing to write home about.
The health workforce had also taken a knock as the developed world continued to open its doors for skilled professionals in the sector, offering them more than what the Government could at that time. This led to a massive skills flight and left the healthcare system further exposed.
Addressing the gaps
Equipped with lessons learnt at the peak of the pandemic, Government has been working around the clock in implementing comprehensive reforms within the health delivery system.
The response to Covid-19 culminated in a health systems overhaul — which included renovation of several facilities, construction of new ones, installation of new state-of-the-art equipment and alternative energy at more than 1 000 health facilities across the country.
According to Vice President and Minister of Health and Child Care, Constantino Chiwenga, improving the quality of health service in country is of paramount importance for the Second Republic.
“Our National Health Strategy puts clearly key strategic outcomes the health sector must achieve by the year 2025. Our visualisation is to bring world-class healthcare to all the people, across the length and breadth of this great country. The Second Republic promises to leave no one and no place behind,” he said earlier this year.
Here are some of the highlights of the activities that took place in the health sector this year:
Policies
This year, the country launched the National Eye Health Strategy which seeks to come up with ways of reducing the burden of eye disease in the country.
The strategy’s main objective is to direct Government in eliminating preventable blindness by providing all citizens with sustainable eye care delivery services that are promotional, preventive, curative, and rehabilitative.
Vaccine roll-out
Zimbabwe was one of the first countries to launch an aggressive national Covid-19 vaccination campaign in February last year, seeking to inoculate 60 percent of the total population to reach herd immunity.
The campaign was impressive as it gained traction and soon five million people had received at least one shot of the life saving vaccine.
In August, Government removed the mandatory wearing of face masks in outdoor public spaces for people who have received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.
Masks remain mandatory for those who have not been vaccinated and for everyone while indoors and in public spaces.
However, with the reduction of new cases and deaths related to Covid-19 this year, there was a significant slowdown in the pace at which vaccines were being taken.
By December 2, a total of 6 573 455 people had received the first dose of the vaccine while 4 941 159 had received two shots and another 1 250 505 got the booster shot.
Targets for herd immunity were revised to 70 percent of the total population and there is still a lot to be done to reach these.
As a result, the Government this month launched another vaccination campaign which ran concurrently with the second phase of the Polio vaccination exercise that ran from December 1 to 4.
The campaign is expected to push the country towards protecting the population from the disease.
In October, the Government began rolling out the polio vaccine to children under the age of five to prevent a resurgence of the viral disease.
Although the country last had a wild polio virus case in 1989 and was subsequently declared polio-free by the World Health Organisation in 2005, neighbouring Malawi and Mozambique had reported cases of the disease.
This prompted a regional campaign to avoid its spread with Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia launching similar programmes.
In May, the Ministry of Health and Child Care launched a measles vaccination campaign in Mutasa District in Manicaland following an outbreak of measles which killed hundreds of children.
Health workforce
To address the challenge of high staff turnover, which has been compromising the provision of health services in the public sector, Government has introduced monetary and non-monetary incentives that have begun to bear fruit already.
Health specific allowances were indexed to the US dollar to address the impact of inflationary pressures. Issues and concerns with the current allowances structure under various categories are also being addressed.
On the non-monetary benefits, Government has set aside resources towards the construction of institutional accommodation at various health centres, including procurement of staff buses and operational vehicles. Government and banks are also working on a Vehicle Guarantee Fund, to ensure sustainability and wider access to vehicle loans at concessionary terms for health workers.
A housing guarantee fund has also been approved to enable health workers easier access to affordable loans from banks and health workers now enjoy a duty free vehicle import facility.
To address the flow of skilled workers to developed countries, the Government is pursuing registration on the WHO Safeguard list and will seek to sign bilateral agreements with countries that have the highest intake of health workers for the country to benefit from migrating health workers.
Ambulances and service vehicles
Under a programme to procure 100 ambulances, a total of 32 have so far been purchased and distributed around the country. This is being complemented by additional ambulances being funded by Development Partners and will be directed in marginalised areas.
Infrastructure refurbishmentand construction
This year saw the commissioning of the Gweru Provincial Hospital Centre of Excellence which was funded by the Aids Healthcare Foundation (AHF)in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Child Care.
The new facility boasts of a One Stop Shop where people living with HIV/AIDS can access quality and affordable services under one roof.
While ensuring that the country has a functional emergency medical service as well as a happy workforce, the Government is also investing towards improving services at all central, provincial, district hospitals and clinics across the country.
To date, the Government has injected an equivalent of US$1,5 million into the medical laboratory under construction at United Bulawayo Hospitals. The laboratory will be one of the largest laboratories in the country and improve the provision of services for people in Bulawayo and the Matabeleland regions.
UBH has also reintroduced laparoscopy surgeries following the acquisition of new theatre equipment and accessories.
Laparoscopy is a low-risk and minimally invasive surgical process used for examining the organs within the abdomen.
Through funding from partners, the facility purchased the components needed for the laparoscopic unit to start working again.
At Mpilo Central hospital, the renovation of three doctor’s apartments was completed. The flats were destroyed by fire in 2018, 2019 and 2021 respectively.
The medical oxygen and industrial gas plant built by Verify Engineering at Feruka in Mutare began to supply medical oxygen to the country’s hospitals in January this year.
Although the facility had been commissioned in August last year, it had to meet the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe regulations for 99,6 percent purity in medical oxygen.
Since then, the company has been producing enough to meet the country’s demand for medical oxygen of 150 tonnes per month. The excess is now being exported to hospitals in Mozambique with medical oxygen.
In an effort to increase health coverage, the Government is also constructing new health posts, which seek to reduce the distance walked by people to access health care. This year, nine posts were constructed in Buhera, Chivhu, Gokwe North (4) and in Centenary district (3). The target is to construct 1 600 health posts by 2025.
Government is also constructing 30 health centres and five district hospitals across the country through a US$210 million facility.
The facilities are being constructed by the Ministry of Health and Child Care in collaboration with NMS Infrastructure Limited, a British owned company.
The first phase of the project has seen four 22-bed health centres being lined up this year. The first facility was commissioned by President Mnangagwa in May at Stoneridge in Harare South. Cowdray Park health centre in Bulawayo is almost complete and work at Mataga health centre in Mberengwa is now underway and will be complete by March 2023. The fourth facility, Runyararo health centre, will be constructed in Chimanimani where survivors of the Cyclone Idai disaster were relocated. Work is expected to start early next year.
Most of these projects will spill over into next year, and money has already been set aside by the Treasury in the 2023 National Budget.
While these are some of the major highlights of 2022, there were many more interventions that sought to improve health service delivery.
These measures and more resonate with the vision of leaving no one and no place behind in health service delivery. – The Herald
