UNICEF country’s representative Peter Salama said that even though it was not government’s policy for hospitals to demand user fees from pregnant women, the economic meltdown of the years preceding the Government of National Unity had led to private and municipal clinics to demand user fees.
“We are very much seized with the issue of user fees for children under five and pregnant women. The official policy of the government of Zimbabwe is free health care for the basic package of services for children under the age of five and pregnant women. However, as the economy became more constrained in the past decade the councils and independent clinics have become to charge fees at variable rates,” said Salama.
Rates vary but in some clinics for a woman just to enrol for the maternity services she has to pay at least $50, money which the majority of people do not have. This leads to increased risks for women who are therefore forced to deliver at home.
It is estimated that in Zimbabwe eight women die daily while giving birth and the charging of user fees is one of the reasons behind these often preventable mortalities.
One hundred children under the age of five die daily – and here again user fees are a causal factor.
“We know from the data that user fees are in fact a barrier to care for both women and children. We are working with the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare to put in place enough funding and the right systems, so that the official policy can be implemented,” said Salama.
Post published in: News