Women are turning to courts
tion, says, “There are no resources to use. Nurses end up asking clients to buy baby delivery packs. …
“Health budgets are not being released on time.
“The lack of resources is more visible in maternity health more than any other sector. …
“The most vulnerable people are the patients, followed by the nurses who are the custodians.”
During the 1980s and 1990s, Zimbabwe’s health sector was among the best in sub-Saharan Africa.
Although the coronavirus pandemic has worsened access to health care, the years of economic instability are what reduced the capacity of Zimbabwe’s health care system.
According to the latest data from the World Health Organization, there are about two doctors per 10 000 people in Zimbabwe. The WHO’s recommendation is one doctor per 1 000 people.
The working conditions and salaries are such that a report from the United Kingdom’s Parliament revealed that in 2021, Zimbabwe ranked 11th among the origin countries for immigrant health care workers and fifth for nurses.
Over time, the exodus of health care workers and the country’s economic challenges have contributed to a rapid decline in maternal, newborn and child health indicators.
When asked what the government is doing to improve maternal health care, Donald Mujiri the spokesperson in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, says the country’s maternal mortality has declined, an assertion supported by the Multiple Cluster Indicator Survey of 2019.
“Government and partners have established the Results-Based Financing (RBF) model [a program that rewards health facilities based on their performance] to improve access to health care services. Besides, training for midwives and specialist doctors has been scaled up,” he said.
Mujiri did not respond to specific queries about the lack of resources and enough funding.
Until the country resolves the systemic issues within the health care sector, women like Chibaya and Siyampongo say courts are the only way they to seek recourse and justice.
Chibaya, who lost her baby after trying to have a second child for over a decade, says the court ruling brought some closure, “but it’s not enough, it will never bring back my boy”.
Siyampongo is lucky her son survived. Like Chibaya, she says she hopes justice will soon come her way.