Category: News

By Problem Masau and Vanessa Gonye

UNCERTAINTY has gripped thousands of employees in the non-governmental organisation (NGO) and civil society organisation (CSO) sectors after they were told to go home following United States President Donald Trump’s issuance of an executive order to freeze foreign aid for 90 days.

Zimbabwe has thousands of NGOs and CSOs across a range of sectors, with the majority of them getting huge chunks of their funding from the US.

The categories that have been severely affected are humanitarian aid, service organisations and political governance.

According to the 2019 Labour Force and Child Labour Survey conducted by the Zimbabwe National StatisticsAgency, the NGO sector accounts for 1,2% of the total employed persons in the country, which translates to an aggregate figure of 17 643 formal jobs.

The figure could, however, be larger amid indications that the sector was the second largest employer in Zimbabwe after government.

Employees who spoke on condition of anonymity yesterday told NewsDay that they were uncertain about their continued employment after Trump’s 90-day review.

“We are in a difficult position. We don’t know what will happen after the 90 days,” one of them said.

“I also do not know where I will get money for rentals since our salaries were also frozen.”

Zimbabwe Nurses Association secretary-general Enock Dongo told NewsDay that nurses, who were working at local clinics under the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) programme, have been told not to come to work.

“We have members who have been working at local clinics who have been told not to report to duty today (yesterday).

“Those people are under emotional stress and also the patients who were waiting for them are affected,” he said.

“What the Trump administration has done is very disrespectful. You cannot just wake up and tell people not to come to work without notice.

“Even if the Zimbabwean government wants to chip in, it needs to prepare first. Africa should wake up and not rely on Western funds.”

Most of the workers were told to surrender vehicles and gadgets belonging to the NGOs.

Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) director Blessing Vava said it was high time the country and the NGO sector came up with ways to deal with national problems.

“I think it is an opportunity for us to go back to the basics and build organic movements, where voluntarism and sacrifice are at the centre,” he said.

“Trump is doing what he is doing for his country and the American people.

“We are Zimbabweans and can never be American, so let’s focus on fixing our problems instead.”

The US embassy in Zimbabwe issued a statement confirming that the executive order was now in effect affecting aid programmes in the country.

The embassy noted Zimbabwe’s recent progress in combating HIV, noting that the country has achieved the global 95/95/95 targets — a benchmark for HIV testing, treatment and viral suppression.

However, the embassy called on government to take greater responsibility for sustaining these gains.

“They urgently need to be focused on buying antiretroviral therapy (ART) and getting nurses in clinics. They can do this,” the statement read.

Meanwhile, stakeholders in the health sector have expressed concern over massive reliance on donor funding as anything can happen leaving the masses in danger.

Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike said the consequences would be catastrophic to patients and communities in Zimbabwe that depended on US support for lifesaving interventions as they would face disruptions to critical services.

“It is risky and unsustainable for a country to depend substantially on external partners as donors can withdraw financial support anytime should their interests shift for some reason or other,” he said.

“It is very sad that when a country is highly dependent on external aid, health priority in government spending tends to fall in line with increased aid.

“Development assistance for health has crowded out government resources and created donor dependence.”

Health expert Martha Tholanah said the executive order was a wake-up call for Zimbabwe.

“Having such panic means our reliance on foreign funding is too heavy. We need more domestic resources for health from the national Treasury,” she said.

“Partners should complement the government, not the other way round. I hope we get our support for treatment sorted such that we never have to be in such distress when a foreign partner decides to withdraw their support.”

Approximately 1,2 million people in Zimbabwe are on HIV treatment and around 90% of HIV-positive pregnant women receive ART.

The developments mean children are under the risk of contracting HIV if mothers stop taking their medication and many more people will be affected given the state of the health sector in Zimbabwe.

By the end of 2023, the US had poured in over US$300 million in active programmes in Zimbabwe, according to the United States Agency for International Development foreign aid portal.

Finance minister Mthuli Ncube has indicated that the government will fund the gap left by the US through tax. -Newsday

https://www.newsday.co.zw/local-news/article/200037270/us-withdrawal-from-who-spells-doom-for-zims-health-sector

Article By Vanessa Gonye |

ZIMBABWEAN health experts have raised concern over the newly-inaugurated United States President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw his country from the World Health Organisation (WHO) saying the world’s largest economy was one of the major funders of the United Nations agency.

Trump accused WHO of mishandling the COVID-19 pandemic and other international health crises, adding that it had also failed to act independently of the inappropriate political influence of member States.

“World Health Organisation ripped us off, everybody ripped off the United States. It’s not going to happen anymore,” Trump said during the signing of an executive order on the withdrawal, shortly after his inauguration to a second term on Monday.

Analysts told NewsDay yesterday that Trump’s decision will affect the country’s health delivery programme funded through WHO.

Medical and Dental Private Practitioners of Zimbabwe Association president Johannes Marisa said the withdrawal would be a serious blow to international health systems.

“In terms of disease outbreaks, like recently with the Mpox, with the COVID-19, with other diseases, measles and so forth, WHO has to do serious surveillance, has to do serious communication, undertake contact tracing and has to do serious case management.

“These programmes or strategies were funded by WHO, which is sponsored by the US among other countries meaning failure to access money or to have adequate funding, the World Health Organisation will be on its knees,” he said.

Itai Rusike, Community Working Group on Health executive director expressed hope for a way out of the impasse between the US government and WHO.

Rusike said WHO being the global authority on health required all the support both technically and materially to fully execute its mandate.

“The withdrawal of the US implies it will not provide the support which we hear amounts to about a fifth of the WHO budget and this is of concern when health challenges are increasing.

“This has considerable impact on the organisation’s operations at all levels and may result in reduced support for our country when the fragility of our health system demands more resources,” he said.

Rusike said Trump’s decision served as a reminder to governments to quickly move towards self-sustenance.

Tendai Westerhof, Pan-African Positive Women’s Coalition Zimbabwe’s national director, echoed the same sentiments highlighting issues of sustainability.

“80% of our funding comes from external donors and we only have 20% that we mobilise locally. So really, this calls for us as countries, especially us in the developing world, to be not too dependent on external funding.

“We appreciate that the US was funding PEPFAR and a lot of money was coming into countries through PEPFAR, through the global fund and WHO, it’s a world organisation that does not discriminate,” she said.

Westerhof added: “We must look internally and be innovative to see how best we can increase our internal domestic funding to the health budget in particular.”

In a statement yesterday, WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said news of the US’s withdrawal from the organisation was regrettable.

He said WHO played a crucial role in protecting the health and security of the world’s people by addressing the root causes of diseases building stronger health systems, and detecting, preventing and responding to health emergencies.

“The United States was a founding member of WHO in 1948 and has participated in shaping and governing WHO’s work ever since, alongside 193 other member States, including through its active participation in the World Health Assembly and Executive Board,” he said.

Tedros expressed hope the US will reconsider and engage them “in constructive dialogue to maintain the partnership between the US and WHO.” –  Newsday

By Gamuchirai Nyamuziwa | Dec. 6, 2024

ZIMBABWE’S budgetary allocation of ZiG28,3 billion to the health sector for 2025 is insufficient to address the severe challenges facing the public health system, experts have warned.

Last week, Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion minister Mthuli Ncube allocated 10,2% of the national budget to the Ministry of Health and Child Care, falling significantly short of the Abuja Declaration target, which calls on African nations to dedicate at least 15% of their budgets to healthcare.

Itai Rusike, executive director of the Community Working Group on Health, expressed concern over the declining share of health spending in government expenditure.

He noted that the allocation of 10,2% represents a drop from 10,6% in 2024.

“Health spending as a share of total government expenditure is an indicator of the priority given to health,” Rusike said.

He stressed the need for increased investment in building a robust and accessible health system.

Achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC), which aims to ensure access to quality health services without financial hardship, requires strong public funding and a commitment to treating healthcare as a fundamental right. The government’s healthcare spending, projected at 2,1% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2025, has fallen sharply from 4% in 2024.

This is far below global averages, as highlighted in the World Health Organisation’s 2023 Global Expenditure on Health report, which showed high-income countries spent an average of US$4 001 per capita on health in 2021, compared to US$45 in low-income countries like Zimbabwe.

“Increasing health expenditure in tandem with the increased population, disease burden and new national development goals remains a challenge to the health sector,” Rusike said.

“No country can make significant progress towards universal health coverage without relying on a dominant share of public funds.

“It is therefore critically important to ensure that the health system is adequately resourced and that resources are efficiently and optimally utilised.

“Government also spends a relatively small share of its GDP on health care.”

Rusike said the allocations fell short of what is necessary for a transformative impact on health care delivery.

“The budget earmarks funds for vital interventions: ZiG3,5 billion for the construction and rehabilitation of health facilities, ZiG290 million for medical equipment, and ZiG150 million for ambulances,” Rusike said.

“Moreover, given the unstable macroeconomic situation, it is important that allocations be disbursed timeously.

“This is critical especially given the fact that by the first half of 2024, the Ministry of Health and Child Care had only received 26,9% of its total allocation for the year; and by September it had received 52,6% of the total budget,” he added.

Rusike said the budget lacked adequate provisions for sexual and reproductive health services, particularly for women and adolescents in rural areas.

Edinah Masiyiwa, executive director at Women’s Action Group, said the budget should have prioritised a well-funded post abortion care programme, among other important issues.

“I call upon the Ministry of Health and Child Care to invest enough resources in health centres so that women can access quality services,” she said.

“A study carried out by the Guttmacher Institute revealed that health centres did not have essential supplies for post-abortion care such as misoprostol, blood and antibiotics. It is important for the national health budget to ensure all the supplies are available for post-abortion care if we are serious about saving lives,” Masiyiwa noted.

This oversight perpetuated existing inequalities and limited women’s ability to make informed choices about their health and family planning.

“The sector is confronted with ensuring that the poor and vulnerable who include women, new-born babies, children and adolescents are also able to afford quality health services,” he said. (The Zimbabwe Independent)

By Vanessa Gonye

GOVERNMENT has issued a public warning about the outbreak of Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, in several non-endemic countries, including neighbouring South Africa.

The alert highlights the risks associated with the rare viral infection, which is typically found in central and west Africa, but has recently spread to new regions.

CWGH Executive Director, Itai Rusike

Health and Child Care minister Douglas Mombeshora outlined measures to prevent the virus from entering the country, although no cases have been reported.

The symptoms of the disease include fever, rash, headache, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, chills, exhaustion and respiratory issues.

“Healthcare structures have been placed on high alert and preparedness and response activities are underway to ensure a swift and effective response if Mpox cases are detected in Zimbabwe,” Mombeshora said in a statement.

He advised the public to take preventive steps, including avoiding contact with infected animals or materials, isolating infected individuals, practising good hand hygiene and using personal protective equipment when caring for patients.

“We are committed to safeguarding public health and are prepared to take all necessary actions to prevent the spread of Mpox in Zimbabwe,” he said.

With Mpox cases on the rise in neighbouring South Africa, there is concern locally over the high traffic between the two countries, particularly considering that Zimbabwe’s health sector is already overburdened by several challenges that include shortages of drugs and medicines.

The World Health Organisation has declared the surging Mpox outbreaks a global emergency.

On Tuesday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said there were more than 22 800 Mpox cases and 622 deaths on the continent and that infections had jumped 200% in the last week.

Harare Institute of Public Health principal Amos Marume said: “If exposed, there is need for self-quarantine and also use of masks which work in minimising the spread of Mpox. In the interest of public health, people should excuse themselves from work and public spaces if they are diagnosed with Mpox.”

Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike said the co-ordination of Mpox response should incorporate lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As the country’s health system faces a new strain of Mpox, community health workers will be key in responding to this new outbreak as they are the trusted sources of information for educating the community, identifying cases, linking patients to care,” he said.

Last week, Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights secretary Norman Matara said given the country’s poor healthcare system, keeping Mpox out was better than trying to contain it after cases appear.

“It saves the nation a lot of money because treatment is always expensive,” he was quoted as saying.

“It also prevents us from unnecessary lockdown restrictions of movements . . . like what we saw with COVID-19.”

Added Matara: “At the moment, we have not recorded any case of Mpox. . . We just need to increase our health surveillance so that anyone with symptoms can be isolated and they can be screened and any case can be easily identified and minimise the virus spreading in the country.”