Category: Programmes

Programmes executed by CWGH

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Don’t Miss Out – 2 August 2023, Webinar: “How we can Ensure Public Health resilience for the next Pandemic?”

Dear colleagues

The Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) and the Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN) cordially invite you to Webinar on “How we can Ensure Public Health Resilience for the Next Pandemic?”

Date: August 2, 2023

Time: 10 AM (CAT) Harare, Pretoria

8AM (WAT) Lagos/Abuja

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/7784897148
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/7784897148
 
Dear colleagues
 
The Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) and the Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN) cordially invite you to Webinar on “How we can Ensure Public Health Resilience for the Next Pandemic?”
Date: August 2, 2023
Time: 10 AM (CAT) Harare, Pretoria
8AM (WAT) Lagos/Abuja
 
Join Zoom Meeting
 
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/7784897148
 
 
 
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Community Working Group on Health: Bringing Civil Society into Health Financing

Background

In 2001, African Union heads of state committed to allocating 15% of their annual budgets to health sector financing through the Abuja Declaration. However, in 2022, Zimbabwe’s health budget was only 10.6% of total spending. Inadequate public financing for health means Zimbabweans are largely forced to pay out-of-pocket — if and when they have the personal funds to do so — in order to access health care. The country’s health sector is also extremely fragile given its reliance on foreign aid and shifting donor priorities, which the World Bank reports accounted for nearly 56% of health expenditures in 2020. No country has made significant progress toward universal health coverage without relying on public funds to support the dominant share of health sector costs. Given these financing gaps, many Zimbabweans lack access to basic primary health care services like reproductive, maternal and antenatal care; contraception; and newborn and child nutrition (nearly one in four children under five experience stunting).  

Bringing Civil Society into Health Financing

 

For decades, the Harare-based Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) — a network of Zimbabwean civil society and community-based organizations — has been working to change this paradigm and improve government accountability by expanding community participation in public health policies, and participating in the development and monitoring of health budgets. In its role as the host and coordinator of the World Bank’s Global Financing Facility (GFF) Civil Society Organization (CSO) platform in Zimbabwe, CWGH has worked to ensure that CSOs and youth-led organizations (YLOs) are at the table with government to shape and inform the development and implementation of Zimbabwe’s investment case to mobilize domestic resources for sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition (SRMNCAH–N).  

Zimbabwe’s GFF Steering Committee with partners from PAI and the World Bank.

Impact of the Work

Since 2021, the GFF has provided CWGH with grants to support its advocacy work, including developing Zimbabwe’s GFF 2022-2025 CSO Strategy, which is comprised of a shared work plan and a monitoring and evaluation framework that facilitates member collaboration, evidence-based advocacy and alignment of advocacy efforts.  

In 2022, CWGH gathered community and civil society inputs to develop a domestic health financing position paper that was submitted to Parliament, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health and Child Care and advocated for increased health spending in the national budget. Traditionally, the national health budget has been formulated by technocrats at the ministerial level without direct input from the community. Participation at the community level in budget formulation gives greater depth to the discussion and facilitates achieving the country’s overall health goals. Thanks to the community participation enabled through CWGH’s position paper, Zimbabwe’s government increased spending on health and child care from 10.6% of total public expenditure in 2022 to 11.2% in 2023.  

CWGH’s 2022 Universal Health Coverage Day commemorations in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

The GFF CSO platform has also enabled civil society to provide input into Zimbabwe’s 2021-2025 National Health Strategy (NHS), which identifies 11 health priorities, including SRMNCAH-N and health financing reforms that rely more on public financing and the creation of a national health insurance scheme. To pay for the implementation of the NHS, CWGH also facilitated civil society engagement in developing the investment case for the National Health Strategy (2021-2025). These strategies are essential for domestic resource mobilization and transitioning Zimbabwe’s health system from one dependent on external financing to a self-sustaining and equitable system.  

In 2023, CWGH received a new GFF grant to continue its advocacy work on domestic resource mobilization for SRMNCAH-N services and maintain civil society’s role in monitoring the implementation of the NHS and investment case. 

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Zimbabwe wins top post at Africa Union Summit

Zimbabwe wins top post at the Africa Union Summit:

                                                         

Parliamentarians from various African countries gathered to discuss health financing in Africa. The meeting, held on 11th and 12th July 2023 in Nairobi,At the sidelines of the African Union Summit resulted in the creation of the Parliamentarian Task Force on Domestic Resource Mobilization for Health in Africa. The task force aims to engage parliamentarians in their respective countries to mobilize national resources for health, strengthen community health, achieve universal health coverage, and address funding gaps for HIV, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.

Zimbabwe was represented at the meeting by Hon MP Dr Mathew Nyashanu, Hon MP Dr Ruth Labode, Hon MP Daniel Molokele, and Mr Itai Rusike. Hon MP Daniel Molokele from Zimbabwe was elected as the Co-Chairperson of the Parliamentarians Task Force on Domestic Resource Mobilization for Health in Africa, alongside Senegal.

The donor community is advocating for sustainability and wants countries to prioritize health as a national development goal. They aim to drive political will and encourage governments to allocate a larger share of their budgets to the health sector while decreasing reliance on external aid. This shift towards a sustainable and self-reliant health financing model is spearheaded by GFAN Africa, which prioritizes the long-term development and resilience of countries’ health delivery systems. This initiative will help countries respond better to future health emergencies like COVID-19.

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DECLARATION BY THE PARLIAMENTARIANS TASKFORCE ON DOMESTIC RESOURCE MOBILIZATION FOR HEALTH IN AFRICA ON THE SIDELINES OF THE AFRICAN UNION SUMMIT

THE NAIROBI DECLARATION 2023

PREAMBLE

We, Parliamentarians from Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC, Ghana, Kenya, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal,

Zambia and Zimbabwe, gathered in Nairobi on 11th & 12th July 2023 at the sidelines of the

African Union Summit, to reflect and discuss health financing in Africa.

Cognizant of the need to formalize genuine collaboration between parliamentarians and Civil

Society, we propose for an effective advocacy program on sustainable domestic resource

mobilization for health in Africa, through a platform for exchanging information, sharing best

practices, strengthening political and synergies.

Our recommendations, resulted in the creation of the Parliamentarian Task Force on Domestic

Resource Mobilization for Health in Africa, with the objectives of engaging parliamentarians in

their respective countries on issues such as the mobilization of national resources for health;

strengthening of community health; universal health coverage; and addressing gaps in funding

for the fight against HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria. We, therefore, unite our voices in support of

this declaration:

CONTEXT

The African Union member states have subscribed to a solid normative legal framework on the

right to health; they have committed to its Agenda 2063, whose aim is to transform the potential

threat posed by the expected doubling of its young population by 2050, into a «demographic

dividend», bringing economic growth and higher living standards, and they also subscribed

to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aim to significantly increase the health

budget to ensure that everyone benefits from universal health coverage (UHC).

Heads of state and government have also made declarations and commitments on health

financing, notably at the 32nd Ordinary Conference of the African Union in Addis Ababa in

February 2019, during which they endorsed the deliberations of the African Leaders’ Meeting

(ALM) and adopted declarations in favor of mobilizing domestic resources for health financing

in Africa.

Notably, many African states are struggling to meet their commitments to mobilize domestic

resources, yet investing in health is investing in human capital, creating stable jobs, stimulating

economic growth and reducing inequalities.

While investments in community health programs are cost-effective, we note with concern the

lack of prioritisation and adequate budgets for the same. These investments contribute to the

reduction of health inequalities, ensuring access to basic services for vulnerable and marginalized

populations; they deliver high quality services and improve overall health outcomes and hence

need to be prioritised.

We acknowledge the support and collaboration of these partners.COMMITMENTS

We are committed to advocate for :

  • Domestic resource mobilization for health including push for the move from commitment

to action, co-financing of Global Fund and other development partners programs for HIV,

TB and Malaria, to build equitable and resilient health systems, focused on people centered

approach and integrated health services (addressing HIV, TB and Malaria and other health

issues based on people’s needs and disease burden);

  • Community Health system strengthening, including ensuring a recognized status for

Community Health Workers, financing of Community Health Strategy, support for community

led responses, and incorporation of community, rights and gender considerations in HIV, TB

and malaria programming;

  • Incorporating universal health coverage as a goal in national health policy frameworks,

strategically connected to broader inter-ministerial priorities such as emergency

preparedness, social stability, climate, economy and finance;

  • Bridging financial and implementation gaps of HIV, TB, Malaria, Health Systems Strengthening,

Pandemic Prevention Preparedness and Response and Community Health Systems in the

National Strategic Plans for the countries;

  • Establish a space for exchange and sharing of good practices among parliamentarians from

different regions of Africa;

  • Create synergies with civil society on Domestic Resource Mobilization for Health in Africa.

RECOMMENDATIONS

That African governments, in a multi-sectoral approach, work in concert with parliamentarians,

civil society and the private sector to implement sustainable strategies for mobilizing domestic

resources and for a significant increase in health budgets, given that a healthy nation is

indispensable to Africa’s socio-economic transformation, as envisaged in Agenda 2063.

African governments, with the aim of achieving universal health coverage by 2030, accelerate

the institutionalization of community health agents to ensure the sustainability of their actions.

This means formalizing their integration into health systems, professionalizing their training and

mobilizing the resources needed to pay them.DECLARATION_MP_Nairobi_ENG

Nairobi, July 12, 2023

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CWGH Director Itai Rusike Joins High-Level National Dialogue on Health Financing , Switzerland

The CWGH Director, Mr. Itai Rusike, was invited to and attended a panel discussion on domestic health financing in Africa with the theme “Advancing Health Financing Reforms through Inclusive Dialogue: National Health Financing Dialogue in SADC Countries”. The event was attended by Ministers of Health, policymakers, development partners, and other CSOs. It took place on May 25th, 2023, in Switzerland.In his words he said “We are pleased to have had the opportunity to hold a productive dialogue meeting in partnership with the Parliament of Zimbabwe, civil society, and the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists. Our delegation from civil society included representatives from various constituent groups from across the country, as well as traditional leaders who serve as custodians of primary health at the community level, and community health workers who have a direct interface with the community. In Africa, community health workers play a crucial role as trusted team for health interests. The media was also invited to this meeting to help prioritize health stories and understand health financing processes. We have come together to issue a joint statement that we hope to present at the international dialogue. It is important for Zimbabwe to continue holding inclusive high-level national dialogues, and we look forward to further follow-up from Parliament and the media. Any support to push for this national level effort would be greatly appreciated.” Watch the video

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