The Sunday Mail
Tanyaradzwa Rusike
By 2008, Zimbabwe’s health sector was on its knees.
It was further stretched to breaking point after a cholera outbreak that claimed over 3 000 people, as the city’s water and sanitation infrastructure had collapsed due to the devastating impact of sanctions.
It was the clearest sign that the challenges caused by the unilateral coercive measures were spreading to other critical sectors.
Apparently, the country, which used to get support from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and African Development Bank, among other agencies, no longer had critical funding to buy essential drugs and life-saving medical equipment.
“They say these sanctions are targeted, but in reality, the measures affect the general population. After the sanctions were imposed in 2001, several funders immediately withdrew programmes they had for our hospitals,” said Dr David Parirenyatwa, who served as Health Minister for 14 years and experienced first-hand the challenges in the sector.
“Critical supplies to our hospitals stopped coming and replacements could not be easily sourced. With the broader economy also reeling under sanctions, funding for the health sector from the national budget diminished. Thus, we were not able to afford common essential drugs and we could not secure equipment for our hospitals.”
After the United States enacted the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act in 2001, all funding to health facilities was abruptly suspended.
Isolation
Other agencies that withdrew funding and support after the sanctions were imposed, according to Dr Parirenyatwa, include the Danish International Development Agency and the Canadian International Development Agency. The World Health Organisation also transferred its regional offices from Zimbabwe to Congo Brazzaville, while a request to the Global Fund for funding of the country’s HIV/AIDS programmes was rejected.
“With the challenge that we had with HIV/AIDS in those years, you can relate the massive loss of lives at that time,” Dr Parirenyatwa added.
But the challenges are still being experienced to this day.
Health and Child Care Deputy Minister Dr John Mangwiro said unilateral coercive measures are preventing Zimbabwe from accessing low-cost medicines.
“There are cases where we are forced to buy drugs that are expensive because we cannot conduct some transactions for lower-priced drugs due to sanctions. It is not a secret that we are failing to get some essentials in the health sector due to sanctions. Middlemen end up charging exorbitant prices, which, in turn, affect our health delivery system,” he said.
Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals public relations officer, Mr Linos Dhire, indicated that the process of acquiring accessories and equipment has become costly and time-consuming.
“A number of orders for very important accessories and medical equipment have been declined by Western countries. The hospital cannot process anything in US dollars or euros when transacting with some countries,” said Mr Dhire.
“In some cases, where payments are made, the manufacturers ended up returning the money. But the time frame in which the money is returned is long, meaning that our hospital goes without such necessities during that period. Ultimately, patients are the ones who are affected.”
The country has not only been finding it increasingly difficult to buy medicines and equipment, but has also been losing critical skills to the same countries that have imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe.
Medical and Dental Private Practitioners of Zimbabwe Association president, Dr Johannes Marisa, said in addition to the brain drain, investment in the health sector has been affected as well.
“The country’s ability to offer basic requirements and services has been negatively impacted. Health workers sometimes lack adequate tools, forcing them to become frustrated and seek greener pastures,” he said.
“Also, the country experienced massive de-industrialisation and economic stagnation due to sanctions, leading to brain drain.
“When you lose your best staffers, obviously, the quality of service to patients degenerates. The fiscus has not managed to live up to the Abuja Declaration of 2001, which calls for all African countries to allocate at least 15 percent of the national budget to the health sector,” he said.
According to a report by United Nations Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe, Professor Alena Douhan, the sanctions must be lifted because of their impact on critical sectors such as health.
Illegal sanctions, she said, have prevented the Government from doing business with foreign banks and companies.
Resilience
However, as the country’s economy continues to grow, the health sector is progressively clawing back.
In the 2022 National Budget, Treasury allocated more than $117 billion to health, which represented the third-largest allocation after agriculture and primary and secondary education, which got $124 billion each.
This essentially brings allocations closer to the Abuja Declaration target.
Since the advent of the Second Republic, the Government has spent close to US$300 million to revamp the country’s health facilities and provide them with modern medical equipment.
“The health budget is growing, though it could be better. From 2010, the HIV rate started to go down. The country has managed to come up with home-grown solutions regardless of the sanctions,” said Dr Parirenyatwa, who is also ZANU PF’s secretary for Health in the politburo.
“Diseases like malaria and tuberculosis are now under control. This is an indicator that we have a resilient health system despite challenges caused by sanctions. Our fight against Covid-19 was also a clear demonstration of how we can fight on in spite of the sanctions.”
While some countries received financial support to procure Covid-19 vaccines, Zimbabwe relied on its own resources and ran one of the most successful vaccination campaigns on the continent.
