By Kuda Pembere
The government, through the Ministry of Health and Child Care, has reassured the nation that there will be no shortage of antiretroviral drugs, having already floated a tender for their procurement.
Concerns had arisen over the potential impact on HIV patients if stocks ran out after June. Previously, Health Minister Dr. Douglas Mombeshora had confirmed that the country had sufficient supplies until then.
In Zimbabwe, 31% of antiretroviral drugs are procured through U.S. funding, with the remainder funded by the government through the National AIDS Council and other development partners.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Dr. Mombeshora explained that the stock of HIV, TB, and malaria medicines for the latter half of the year had been affected by an executive order issued by former U.S. President Donald Trump, which halted foreign aid.
We had medicines for HIV and AIDS, TB, and malaria that had already been procured, but they were being delivered in phases. We have enough stock until the end of June. However, the shipments scheduled to cover the period from June to December were halted,” he said.
“We cannot wait to see what happens after the 90-day review period,” he added. “As a ministry and as a government, we have mobilized resources. Today, if you check the newspapers, you will see that we have floated a tender to procure medicines that will cover us from June to the end of September.”
Dr. Mombeshora emphasized that HIV services would not be disrupted.
“In terms of service delivery and continuity of treatment for those on HIV and AIDS medication, there will be no disruption. There will be no shortages of any medicines,” he assured. “No one should be alarmed or resort to hoarding.”
Meanwhile, thousands of clinical and administrative workers previously supported by USAID programs have been left jobless.
“The Ministry of Health had already planned to transition all health workers to government employment due to accountability concerns,” Dr. Mombeshora said. “Some health workers employed by NGOs and other partners were outside our reporting structure. At times, we did not know their whereabouts when they were absent from work.”
He noted that nearly 19,000 village health workers had been enrolled for payment under partner-funded programs, with about 15,000 already receiving salaries. Additionally, over 1,000 nurses, some of whom staffed opportunistic infection clinics, were affected.
Most of the affected workers were involved in HIV, AIDS, TB, and malaria programs.
“These are the programs most impacted by the executive order. To prevent service disruption, we redeployed staff to ensure no facility was solely manned by employees paid by partners or NGOs,” he explained. “There may have been minor disruptions in the first few days, but we acted swiftly to redeploy our nurses and maintain service delivery.”
He further clarified that a waiver was later introduced, allowing clinical workers to resume their duties.
“The waiver reversed the work stoppage for those in clinical practice—meaning nurses in clinics and doctors in hospitals, not those in administrative roles, have returned to work,” he said.
The transportation of medical samples was also affected.
“Our laboratories and medicine distribution systems, particularly in rural areas, were impacted,” Dr. Mombeshora noted. “Several trucks attached to NatPharm, our national pharmaceutical company, were taken out of service. While the government operates 42 trucks, an additional 11 were provided by partners, and those had temporarily ceased operations. However, all trucks and drivers are now back to work, along with motorbike couriers used for sample transportation.”
USAID has been instrumental in supporting Zimbabwe’s HIV response, implementing various programs valued at $90,524,486 and $20,000,000, which provided technical, financial, and material assistance, including funding for critical health workers’ wages.
