Healthcare System and Delivery: Governmental Health-Related Agencies
Healthcare for the citizens of Zimbabwe is generally provided by various health-related entities namely: public facilities, nonprofit groups, church organizations, company operated-clinics, and for-profit clinics (Osika, Altman, Ekbladh, Katz, Nguyen, Rosenfield, Williamson, and Tapera, 2011). The main or head governmental agency concerned with the healthcare in Zimbabwe is the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare or MOHCW (Osika et al., 2011). MOHCW, as the main healthcare agency of the Zimbabwean government, generally works by coordinating other agencies of the government that are also related to healthcare provision (Osika et al., 2011). Being systematic in healthcare provision, agencies that will embody the MOHWC in provincial areas are also established and they are referred to as Provincial Medical Directorate (PMD) offices (Osika et al., 2011). In addition to implementing objectives of the MOHCW, PMD offices are also responsible for allocating funds from the government (Osika et al., 2011). Under the provinces are the districts and for each district, a District Health Office (DHO) is designated (Osika et al., 2011). DHOs directly manage and monitor rural health clinics (Osika et al., 2011).
Healthcare System and Delivery: Healthcare Personnel
The main healthcare professionals in Zimbabwe are categorized into four types namely: doctors, nurses, pharmacists and environmental technicians (Munyuki and Jasi, 2009). Currently, there are 1,634 doctors serving all over Zimbabwe, 16,407 nurses, 524 pharmacists, and 1,054 environmental technicians (Munyuki and Jasi, 2009). These recorded numbers of healthcare professionals in Zimbabwe fail to meet the necessary quantity needed to fill all the posts in public sector, as reported by Munyuki and Jasi (2009).
Healthcare System and Delivery: Nursing Education System and Accrediting Organizations
Nursing education in Zimbabwe has many levels, with the Conversion Program Certificate to Diploma in Nursing as the lowest and the PhD degree in Nursing being the highest (Mapanga and Mapanga, 2000). The progression of nursing education in Zimbabwe starts from a basic BSc Nursing degree, followed by a Post Basic Diploma in Nursing. After attaining a Post Basic Diploma, students can proceed to Post Basic BSc Nursing, which may be followed by an MSc degree, and lastly by a PhD degree (Mapanga and Mapanga, 2000). Aside from the five progressive degrees of nursing education in Zimbabwe, there are two other ways by which one can be considered a nurse in Zimbabwe namely: the Conversion Program Certificate to Diploma in Nursing and Basic Diploma in Nursing (Mapanga and Mapanga, 2000). The last two are less comprehensive as they consequently do not require the same number of years, which automatically account for greater expenses, in order for someone to learn nursing. The Zimbabwe Health Professions Council serves as the main regulatory body that requires the registration of all practicing nurses in Zimbabwe, regardless of their educational background (Mapanga and Mapanga, 2000).
Healthcare System and Delivery: Nursing Associations
The main representative body for nurse in Zimbabwe is the Zimbabwe Nurses Association or ZINA (Adamchak, 1996). Apart from ZINA, other smaller nurse associations are present in Zimbabwe, including the National Association of Occupational Health Nurses and the Midwives Association (Adamchak, 1996). Nurse associations in Zimbabwe are important in keeping nurses coordinated and unified.
References
Adamchak, S.E. (1996, Feb. 29). Assessment of the Private Medical Sector in Zimbabwe. The Profit Project for USAID/Zimbabwe, 1-30. Retrieved from http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pnacb306.pdf
Mapanga, K.G. and Mapanga, M.B. (2000, May 31). A Perspective of Nursing in Zimbabwe. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 5(2). Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Volume52000/No2May00/NursingInZimbabwe.html
Munyuki, E. and Jasi, S. (2009, August). Capital flows in the health care sector in Zimbabwe: Trends and implications for health system. Equinet Discussion Paper 79, 1-39. Retrieved from http://www.equinetafrica.org/bibl/docs/DIS79pppMUNYUKI.pdf
Osika, J., Altman, D., Ekbladh, L., Katz, I., Nguyen, H., Rosenfield, J., Williamson, T., and Tapera, S. (2011, January). Zimbabwe Health System Assessment 2010. Retrieved from http://www.healthsystems2020.org/content/resource/detail/2812/
