Rural areas experience acute poverty, with most households living on less than a dollar a day.
“We have now created an adequate pool of resources that allows us to eliminate user fees, starting with the clinics in rural areas where our populations suffer the most inequity in terms of access to quality care,” said Madzorera during the official signing ceremony of the
$17.1 million Health Transition Fund in support of the National Health Strategy in Harare yesterday.
The money was availed by the European Commission.
Madzorera said his ministry had received a joint $56 million from the European Commission, Canada, Ireland, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden and the United Kingdom towards the resuscitation of the country’s health service delivery system.
“Inclusive of the $17.1m from European Commission, we now have a total of $56 million for 2013 alone,” he said.
This is the second year the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare has been receiving HTF assistance, which is managed by UNICEF Zimbabwe.
HTF is a multi-donor pool support to improve access to quality health care in line with the country’s National Health Strategic Plan of 2011-2015.
Madzorera said user fees were a major barrier to access to health among women and children.
“The objective of the HTF is to eliminate maternal mortality ratio and infant and child mortality rates, currently at 960 deaths per 100 000 live births and under five mortality which has increased from 79 to 84 deaths per 1 000 live births,” he said.
“We are racing against the clock to reach Millennium Development Goal Number Four and Number Five of reducing children under-five mortality by two-thirds and reducing maternal mortality by three quarters, respectively (by 2015),” added Madzorera.
He said that elimination of user fees will soon spread to urban and other district health institution to achieve universal access.
“In time, this elimination of user fees will move to the district hospitals and urban clinics,” he said.
EC Representative and EU Charge d’ Affairs, Carl Skau, commended the Zimbabwean government and the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare for positively cooperating with them.
“The programme still has three years ahead of it and we hope to continue supporting the people of Zimbabwe and we call on the GNU (Government of National Unity) and the Ministry of Health to continue working in a peaceful environment,” he said.
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