The future of health in Zimbabwe

Abstract

In November 2017, following a military intervention, Robert Mugabe was forced to resign as president of Zimbabwe – where he had ruthlessly ruled since 1980. Mugabe’s regime was responsible for destroying the country’s excellent health system. I argue that this is a unique moment for health reform in Zimbabwe. This reform should focus on three areas: (1) repairing relationships with the international community by focusing on human rights and eliminating corruption, (2) strengthening the health workforce through retention strategies, training, and non-specialist providers, and (3) community engagement. The future of Zimbabwe’s health system is in limbo, and now is a unique opportunity to make positive change.

An analysis of the trends, characteristics, scope, and performance of the Zimbabwean pharmacovigilance reporting scheme

“…Zimbabwe previously boasted one of Africa's most robust healthcare systems, but over the past few years it has been stagnating due to decreasing government healthcare expenditure 10,11 . HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis have also contributed to the strain on resources necessitating donor funding for service provision 10,11 .…”

“…Zimbabwe previously boasted one of Africa's most robust healthcare systems, but over the past few years it has been stagnating due to decreasing government healthcare expenditure 10,11 . HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis have also contributed to the strain on resources necessitating donor funding for service provision 10,11 . However, pharmacovigilance activities for HIV and tuberculosis medicines have disproportionately been supported from donor funded public health programmes for the respective diseases 12 .…”

Impact of COVID-19 on Malaria Elimination: Juxtaposing Indoor Residual Spraying and Mobile Phones in Buhera Rural District, Zimbabwe

“…The introduction of e-health strategy 2012 -2017 was a paradigm shift towards the adoption of mobile health, telemedicine systems, electronic health record (EHR) in Zimbabwe's health system to expedite health data access, sharing, remote, monitoring of patient and synchronization of medical activities. The health system was once amongst the best in sub-Saharan Africa, and later severely suffered in the period 2000 to 2009 due to several factors including hyperin ation, political instability [28], policy inconsistencies, lack of funding, lack of infrastructure, and the outbreak of preventable and treatable conditions such as Human Immunode ciency Virus (HIV) infection and acquired immune de ciency syndrome, TB, acute respiratory infections, hypertension and malaria [29]. The necessity for robust, effective and provision of health information systems, disease prevention, monitoring and control strategies and collaborative efforts with different stakeholders as part of a strategic response to malaria and other communicable diseases pandemics was inevitable.…”

Z Factor: Drama as a tool to tackle mental health stigma: study design and protocol for community and public engagement in rural Zimbabwe

“…Policymakers: As the project involved the participation of policymakers at various levels both in the government and traditional chiefdom, it was hoped that they will be able to interact with mental health service users and their support networks with the hopes that the engagement can spark the need to prioritize mental health issues in policy programming. This is especially important as various studies and reports about Zimbabwean mental health services ( Chikara & Manley, 1991 ; Hendler et al , 2016 ; Kidia, 2018 ; and Mangezi & Chibanda, 2010 ) argue that the country still has a long way to go in providing adequate mental health services due to lack of adequate financial and human resources as well as poor and negative belief systems about psychosis. It is therefore important that policymakers be actively involved in mental health research as such involvement provides them with first-hand knowledge and lived experiences of persons and or families affected by mental illness.…”