Category: Press Statements

Harare records 21 Cholera cases

Eric Salwin

HARARE City Council’s health services director Prosper Chonzi yesterday confirmed a cholera outbreak in the capital, and urged residents to help in keeping the disease under control. “We now have 21 cases, seven confirmed cases and these are mainly coming from the western suburbs,” Chonzi said. “Budiriro has four confirmed cases, Glen View 3 has two, and one from Mt Pleasant Heights. What this means is that we should take this outbreak seriously because it has the potential to spread like a veld fire. We need to be on high…

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CWGH Workers day press statement

Eric Salwin

May1, 2023 CWGH Workers’ Day Statement: Government must reward health workers. As the World celebrates the Workers’ Day today, the Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) calls upon the government to remunerate the health workers well and improve their working conditions to curb the current brain drain that has quickened the collapse of the sector. Let us also make sure that health workers are provided with all the necessary tools of the trade, health institutions are well equipped with the essential medicines and modern medical equipment. One of the major…

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Press Statement on the World Health Day, 7 April 2023

Eric Salwin

Time for Action: “Health for All” slogan must not be mirage The Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) today joins the rest of the world in commemorating this year’s World Health Day (WHD) calling on the government to ensure that health services are available, accessible and affordable to all citizens in the country. This year’s theme, “Health for All” resonates well with the growing global call for Universal Health Coverage (UHC), which seeks to ensure that people have access to the health care they need without suffering financial hardships. The…

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‘Zim likely to miss SDG target for reducing matenal mortality’

Eric Salwin

File picture: Pregnant woman MATERNAL and neonatal mortality remains a health concern in Zimbabwe, Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) has said. CWGH director Itai Rusike  told NewsDay Weekender that the country remains off target towards meeting the 2030 United Nations (UN) goals to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality. “Despite the high coverage of births by a skilled attendant and institutions delivery, maternal mortality remains high at 462/100 000 live births,” Rusike said. “In addition, the high HIV rates among pregnant women at 14,3% increases the risk of mother-to-child transmission…

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Concerns over amendments to the Health Services Act.

Eric Salwin

Credit : Newsday THERE are fears that the recently signed Health Service Amendment Act could trample on the rights of health workers. Speaking to NewsDay, Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike  said the Act is neither democratic nor consultative. He said workers in the public health sector  are now disadvantaged in several ways, since now they cannot strike and bargain collectively. “It is unfortunate that health workers are caught in the middle of a system that is slow to respond to their needs and ethical pressures not…

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2023 Health Budget insufficient

Eric Salwin

HEALTH experts yesterday said Finance minister Mthuli Ncube’s $473,8 billion budget allocation towards the provision of health care services was grossly inadequate to fund the sector’s critical needs. Ncube announced a $4,5 trillion budget on Thursday with 11% going towards health. Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike said the health sector remains grossly underfunded. “The health budget remains grossly inadequate to fund the critical needs in the health sector,” Rusike said. “The current health financing model remains unsustainable as it heavily relies on external financing as well…

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Brief Post Budget Analysis 2023 CWGH

Eric Salwin

  The 2023 Health Budget allocation of only 11% has remained largely uninspiring given that it has not addressed the critical issues that we raised in our Pre-Budget position paper. It falls far short of the Abuja Declaration Target of 15%. Unfortunately the health budget remains grossly inadequate to address the critical needs in the health sector such as the current exodus of health workers, drug shortages, inadequate ambulances, and obsolete equipment. The inadequate public financing of the health sector has resulted in an overreliance on out-of-pocket and external financing…

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