THE ZIMBABWE
PEACE PROJECT
HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
In the 2021 budget, the Finance minister allocated 13 percent, up from the 10 percent allocated in 2020. While
this is commendable and close to meeting the minimum expectations in budget allocation as stated in the Abuja
Declaration of 2001, there are genuine concerns that with the state of Zimbabwe’s social services sectors, that is
chiefly, health and education, more should have been allocated. This is because Zimbabwe’s health sector needs
major overhaul as the infrastructure is dilapidated from years of neglect. In addition, government still relies
heavily on donor funding for most of the health services. Getting sick in Zimbabwe has become hazardous. Prices
of lifesaving drugs are exorbitant and unaffordable to the ordinary citizens.
The rot in the health sector has impacted heavily on maternal health as expecting mothers are being turned away
from public hospitals and clinics, and some are being forced to pay bribes in order to be attended to. Private
hospitals are charging up to US$600 for deliveries and this is hardly affordable for many.
A countrywide survey conducted by ZPP established that healthcare workers are demanding between US$5.00
and US$30.00 to attend to women in labour. In addition, expecting mothers use their resources to purchase the
required equipment, including syringes, cotton wool, gloves, and spirit among other items.
WATER & SANITATION & PRISON CONDITIONS
In a very positive ruling, the High Court of Zimbabwe ordered that inmates of Chikurubi Maximum prison must
get a daily supply of 60 liters of water per inmate. The order was granted to ensure the measures are enforced, as
per an urgent chamber application was filed by serving prisoner Taurai Dodzo and Zimbabwe Human Rights
NGO Forum concerned about water shortages and a diarrhea outbreak in the prison.
ZPP will continue to monitor the implementation of this court order as water, apart from it being an essential
requirement, is even more critical in these times of COVID-19.
This positive ruling can only bring sanity to the prison system if it is complemented by an improvement in the
conditions of Zimbabwean prisons.
Journalist Hopewell Chin’ono, who spent a lengthy time detained at Chikurubi spoke about overcrowding at
Zimbabwe’s largest prison, said he was with 41 other detainees in a cell meant for 16 people.
“When you get out in the morning, food is served in the courtyard which has raw sewage flowing,” he said.
With such a scenario, which was corroborated by other activists who have been to Chikurubi, and based on ZPP
findings on the state of prisons countrywide, it is likely that prisons are potential hotbeds of outbreaks of
diseases like cholera and typhoid.
Government needs to act to improve the conditions in prison to avoid the 2008 disaster when there was a
16
cholera outbreak and international development agencies had to intervene to save the situation