Zimbabwe needs to increase its domestic funding towards health care particularly the childhood immunization program to cushion itself from the impacts of the accelerated weaning off the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) co-financing facility, HealthTimes has learnt.
By Kudakwashe Pembere
In the short term, Zimbabwe could become ineligible for the GAVI financing facility since it is reporting an increase its gross national income (GNI) in its journey towards the ambitious upper middle-income status by 2030.
The country saw a reduction of GAVI financing for most of its health programs as it got US$15.4 million in 2019 which dropped to US$5 million in 2020 before plunging to about US$3 million the following year, according to the GAVI website on the Zimbabwe country page.
In separate interviews, well-placed sources who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal said Zimbabwe is in the transition phase which will see GAVI reducing its funding as espoused in the co-financing facility arrangement it entered with the Zimbabwean government.
So GAVI looks at the country’s economic indicators such as the Gross National Income and per capita among other things. So, if a country sustains its GNI for three years they perceive the country as being OK. So, Zimbabwe’s economic figures come from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and the World Bank figures which they use. So, when they look at the World Bank figures, they can just conclude these people have money but they have misplaced priorities,” the source said.
The source added that if the surplus trumpeted by the Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube was translated to the increased domestic health financing, there would be no cause for panic.
“What is actually happening is the surplus paraded by the finance minister, if we had it in real terms, it would be the other way round. What the ministry of finance or the government is saying is we are poor. But world bank sees the movements noting we are not as poor as advertised but the government is prioritizing maybe the military,” said the source.
The source noted Zimbabwe could see a 20 percent reduction in GAVI financing.
“Zimbabwe is now on the accelerated phase of transition because every year they reduce their funding by 15 percent. But when they see the GNI increasing, they accelerate it further to something like 20 percent per year. They call this a graduation. Ours is a painful graduation,” the source said.
Another source in explaining how the GAVI-Zim government co-financing arrangement works said this weaning process may take about seven years.
“With, the country’s goal of achieving upper middle-income status in the country the facility may be stopped. The arrangement will be like for example, GAVI says since you are a low to middle income country, we may chip in with 85 percent and the government has to come through with the remaining 15 percent,” the other source said.
“So with this reduction of funding, this is a lesson for the country to seriously consider increasing its domestic resources in the health sector because this mentality on relying on others to look after one’s family is dangerous.”
Otherwise, Zimbabwe has been doing well in its childhood immunization coverage with DTP-containing vaccine, 1st dose standing at 93% in 2021.
