We’re ready to help revive Zim’s health sector: WHO 

Source: We’re ready to help revive Zim’s health sector: WHO – NewsDay Zimbabwe

BY PRIVILEDGE GUMBODETE
THE World Health Organisation (WHO) has reaffirmed its support to strengthen Zimbabwe’s health delivery systems through the Health Labour Market Analysis (HLMA) currently underway.

In his remarks read by James Asamani, WHO country representative, Alex Gasasira said while the government had laid a clear policy to attain Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), there was need for more interventions to address challenges facing the health sector.

“Through the Health Service Board (HSB) and the Ministry of Health and Child Care, the government recently reviewed the national human resources for health (HRH) policy, laying a clear policy direction toward having an adequate, well-trained and motivated health workforce for the attainment of the aspirations of the national health strategy, especially for universal health coverage (UHC) and sustainable development goals,” Gasasira said during a methodology workshop on HLMA.

“WHO is closely supporting the government in collaboration with other partners to use the HLMA to generate evidence to inform the development of a new HRH strategy and sustainable investment plan to address some of the longstanding challenges such as the shortage of health workers, unequal distribution, excessive migration and concerns regarding working conditions, among others.”

Acting HSB executive director Angelbert Mbengwa said Zimbabwe’s health sector has a lot of benefits in having HLMA.

“The success of this HLMA will provide evidence and insight on the Zimbabwean population health needs, health workforce issues and dynamics of the Health Labour Market in Zimbabwe,” Mbengwa said.

“Estimation of health workers needed to respond to the health service needs, the interaction and mismatches between supply, demand and need; and the financial feasibility and impact of different policy options.

“The process of conducting a comprehensive HLMA and development of the HRH strategic and investment plan shall be an inclusive process involving development partners and all stakeholders, with WHO providing technical assistance.”

A recent global UHC monitoring report by WHO and the World Bank showed Zimbabwe was making progress.

“Zimbabwe has consistently performed above the African average, with an increasing UHC index from 32% in 2000 to 55% currently. Zimbabwe’s UHC index has remained around 55% since 2015,” Gasasira said.