Health and Child Care Minister Douglas Mombeshora launched the five-year plan on Thursday at Norton Hospital.
He called it “a solemn commitment to the people of Zimbabwe” and said it would be key to achieving Vision 2030 and Universal Health Coverage.
“Today, we are not just launching a document. We are making a solemn commitment to the people of Zimbabwe,” Mombeshora said.
“This strategy represents a defining moment in our nation’s journey towards health and well-being, charting a transformative path that is both ambitious and, crucially, achievable.”
Mombeshora said Zimbabwe has met the global 95-95-95 HIV targets. He reported that 95.1 per cent of people living with HIV know their status, 100 per cent are on treatment, and 96.1 per cent are virally suppressed.
He said maternal deaths have fallen from 462 per 100,000 live births in 2019 to an estimated 212 in 2024. Life expectancy has also risen to 65 years.
He said that between 2021 and 2025, 200 new health facilities were built, taking the total to 1,953.
Mombeshora admitted that the public health system still faces serious problems. These include high staff turnover and poor use of budgets, with local clinics and hospitals receiving less than 50 per cent of the operational funds allocated to them.
To tackle this, he said that the strategy is to increase domestic health spending to at least 15 per cent of the national budget, in line with the Abuja Declaration and double the current medical workforce by 2030.
“Health financing remains a major constraint. Heavy reliance on donor funding, which fluctuates, and high out-of-pocket payments by households, which stood at 27.8 per cent in 2023, expose families to catastrophic health expenditures and impoverishment,” he said.