Government yesterday commended the Global Fund initiatives in the country which have complemented its efforts in the fight against diseases including HIV and AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria and Covid-19.
Speaking during a high-level virtual meeting held yesterday with representatives of the development agency, Vice President and Minister and Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr. Contantino Chiwenga said that owing to the former’s support, the country had managed to strengthen its health systems and the public finance management system (PFMS), while District Health Information Systems (DHIS) have been rolled out to all district.
Dr. Chiwenga acknowledged and appreciated the Global Fund policies aimed at capacitating national institutions to be able to implement and manage the grants under the oversight of the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM).
“We acknowledge and thank the Global Fund for the grant flexibility policy which allows for fast reprogramming of savings to support mitigation interventions and the additional developments availed to the country to fight Covid-19” Dr. Chiwenga said.
The Vice President noted that the Global Fund has put a lot of improvements in Human Resources for Health (HRH) retention to complement Government efforts in skills retention. He added that the HRH scheme was a stop-gap measure and would gradually deplete as Government contribution increased.
“Government remains committed to competitively remunerate its workers including the health workforce” explained Dr. Chiwenga.
He reiterated that Government was committed to ensuring that its workers were competitively remunerated with the intention to wean them off from partner support in the foreseeable future.
Dr. Chiwenga also informed that the country was rolling out the patient level data systems such as the Electronic Health Record (EHR) and the Electronic Logistics Management System (ELMIS) using Resilient and Sustainable Systems for Health (RSSH).
He thanked Global Fund for their support in the construction of the recently completed Masvingo Natpharm Warehouse adding that construction of the Mutare Natpharm Warehouse will commence soon. He also highlighted that 639 sites have benefited from Solar for Health and 143 pharmacy stores were renovated, courtesy of complimentary support from Global Fund and other partners.
The Global Fund remains the major donor in the country’s health sector. Recently, development agency availed more than 75 million dollars to the country, bringing its total contribution towards the fight against the pandemic in Zimbabwe to over one hundred and twenty million United States dollars.
