By Michael Gwarisa
THE Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is set to avail a sizable amount of funding towards Zimbabwe’s Primary Health Care (PHC) services in a bid to bridge the funding gap bedeviling the health sector , a top Save the Children Zimbabwe official has said.
In an interview with HealthTimes on the side-lines of a Primary Health Care Budget analysis feedback meeting, Save the Children Zimbabwe Health Project Advisor Forster Matyatya confirmed the development and said the Gates foundation has come at a time when there is need for funding towards Primary Health Care Services.
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“So basically what the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation in this project which we are calling Primary Health Care Budget Advocacy is that Bill and Melinda realised is that, countries are not owning up to the initial commitments where at the Alma Ata declaration, they made commitments that they are going to provide for PHC.
“The belief is that if PHC is provided to its fullest potential, all the health indicators that are troubling us will be a thing of the past because PHC is focusing on issues to do with prevention, the cost that both the government and the people can afford, community participation, the people, the innovation, the technologies that we are talking about,” said Matyatya.
According to the Alma Nata declaration, Primary Health Care is defined as essential health care made universally accessible to individuals and families by means acceptable to them through their full participation and at a cost that the community and country could afford and maintain at every stage of their development in the spirit of self-reliance and self determination.
He added that in Zimbabwe, they have already done a study to analyse the situation on the ground so as to look at how best they can assist government in the budget consultation process visa-avis the health sector.
“These results will give us a springboard to start discussions on the provisions of PHC. However, at the moment, we don’t have actual figures or the actual amount as to how much the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation will allocate towards Zimbabwe.
“The starting point was for us to have this study in place, then afterwards decisions can be made as to say how do we move forward because we cannot have a plan of going forward without knowing the need and demand.”
Matyatya however applauded government for driving Primary Health Care services and said the Bill and Melinda Gates funding will come in to complement government efforts so as to make the job easier.
“The government is doing its best to drive PHC even though there might be some loopholes here and there that might need interventions of some sort. For instance the component and the package of PHC itself is not really agreed upon, it’s something that we need to further engage the ministry of health on.
“PHC on the other hand is talking of the basics for example at the rural health centre level, at the clinic, maternal neo-natal child care, immunisation, are we proving preventive services. So, these are the issues we are going to look at.”
Meanwhile, the health sector was been allocated a budget of US$282 million, which represents 6,9 percent of the total National Budget vote in 2017.
The expenditure trend indicates that the budget allocation to the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) still remains below the Abuja target of 15 percent, and is likely to remain so unless government reprioritises its ministry budget allocations and expenditures.
For the past six years, external partners have funded the MoHCC primary and secondary health care, with the government funding mostly salaries and higher levels of care. An estimated 79 percent of the total MoHCC vote allocation will go towards employment costs as the Minister has already said, leaving only 21 percent for non-wage expenditures.
