Source: Ministry to absorb all donor-funded health workers – herald
Rumbidzayi Zinyuke
Senior Health Reporter
THE Government will by January next year absorb all health workers currently supported by development partners into the public service, with at least 2 000 posts earmarked to move onto the State payroll as their donor-funded contracts expire.
The move is aimed at ending fragmented employment arrangements in the health sector and ensuring that critical services currently supported through non-government contracts are sustained under a unified public health workforce system.
Health Service Commission (HSC) vice chairperson Dr Abigail Kangwende said all partner-supported health workers would be formally integrated into Government structures and the national human resources system by the end of January 2027.
“The commission and the Ministry of Health and Child Care are committed to ending fragmented health workforce employment arrangements,” she said.
“I am happy to share that by the end of January 2027, all partner-supported health workers will be formally absorbed into the Government structures and Government payroll.”
The workers will fall under the Health Service Commission and Ministry of Health and Child Care, with the Government taking responsibility for their employment and conditions of service.
The transition is being supported by a major expansion of the public health workforce, with the Government having authorised the creation and filling of 14 069 additional posts across various health worker categories.
Of these, at least 2 000 posts will support the gradual transfer of partner-supported positions to the Government payroll as existing contracts expire.
Dr Kangwende said the move would strengthen the sustainability of services that had historically depended on development partner support.
“This change will strengthen governance, harmonise conditions of service and ensure resilience and sustainability of critical services previously reliant on non-government contracts,” she said.
The absorption programme comes as Zimbabwe battles persistent shortages of health workers, worsened by the migration of doctors, nurses and other skilled professionals seeking opportunities outside the country.
The country currently has about 22 health workers per 10 000 people, roughly half the global benchmark of 44 per 10 000. The Government recruited more than 5 000 health workers in 2025, while the latest expansion of 14 069 posts is expected to increase staffing across the health sector.
The new posts will cater for different categories of workers and will also support the operationalisation of the expanded Ministry of Health and Child Care organisational structure.
Some will be deployed to frontline institutions, including rehabilitation centres, while others will cater for social workers, clinical psychologists, therapists and other cadres. Zimbabwe is also seeking to double its health workforce by 2030 under the Human Resources for Health Investment Compact, with efforts focused on expanding training capacity and reducing the impact of attrition and migration.
However, Dr Kangwende warned that creating additional posts alone would not solve the country’s health workforce challenges because some critical skills remain scarce on the local labour market.
These include specialist doctors, specialist nurses, pharmacists, radiographers and medical laboratory scientists.
She said filling these posts would require coordinated action involving the Government, universities, regulatory authorities and development partners.
The HSC is also introducing a digital registration and deployment system intended to speed up the recruitment and onboarding of new health workers while improving deployment to underserved areas.
The system will also allow the Government to access and analyse health workforce data to support more informed recruitment and deployment decisions.
Dr Kangwende said the reforms were part of a broader effort to create a stable and sustainable national health workforce.
She said bringing partner-supported workers onto the Government payroll represents a major step towards ending fragmented employment arrangements in the health sector.
“The absorption of partner-supported staff onto Government systems is a major milestone towards coherent national workforce governance,” she said.
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