Zimbabwe Health System In Jeopardy

 

Zimbabwe’s deepening economic crisis is severely affecting the government’s ability to fund public health delivery and restricting poor people’s access to health care, economists, government officials and health experts agree.

The economy had shown signs of modest improvement under the government of national unity (GNU) between 2009 and 2013, when President Robert Mugabe and his long-ruling ZANU-PF party shared power with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). But industry has been performing poorly and company closures have picked up since ZANU-PF won general elections in July 2013.

Ebola Still Active But Huge Distinction Remains

 

While Ebola treatment and containment efforts are gradually gaining pace in Sierra Leone and Liberia, there are still far too few health workers, contact tracers and community monitors on the ground to keep up with the disease's spread, particularly in urban areas, say Health Ministry staff and aid workers.

"It's hard for us to cut transmission rates," Liberia's Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyensuah told IRIN. "Most of the hospitals in Monrovia are still not fully operational. More community surveillance is needed. We don't have it right yet."