Press Statement: Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr Madzorera - European Commission HTF Signing Ceremony

Salutations

The Health Transition Fund is a multi-donor pooled funding mechanism to support the health system in Zimbabwe. This will be our second year of funding which started in earnest last year.

The European Commission has been one of the major funders and I am very happy today that we have signed an agreement for 17.1 million USD to support activities of the fund during 2013.  Thank you, European Commission, for this support.  
 
We also acknowledge the other funding partners of the HTF, the governments of Canada, Ireland, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. We extend our heartfelt thanks to UNICEF, the faithful fund manager of the HTF.
 
The objective of the Health Transition Fund is to enable the Ministry to reduce the maternal mortality ratio and the infant & child mortality rates. The MMR is currently 960 per 100,000 and under-5 mortality has increased from 79 to 84 per 1,000 live births according to the latest Demographic & Health Survey. We are racing against the clock to reach Millennium Development Goal 4 of reducing under-5 mortality by two thirds, and goal 5 of reducing maternal mortality by three quarters.
 
Ten women die every day in Zimbabwe as a result of complications during pregnancy. But no woman should die while giving life. User fees are one of the most important barriers preventing Zimbabwean women and children from accessing health care and fulfilling their right to health services.

The Government of Zimbabwe, through the MOHCW, is once again committed to achieving free access to healthcare for pregnant and lactating women, children under 5 years and the elderly over 65 years. We have now created an adequate pool of resources that will allow us to eliminate user fees, starting with the clinics in rural areas where our populations suffer the most inequity in terms of access to quality care.
 
Human Resources are the heartbeat of our health system. An appropriately trained, skilled and well-motivated workforce is a critical component required for the efficient delivery of health services, including for pregnant women and children.

The Ministry of Health and Child Welfare has therefore given human resources high priority, in order to increase access to trained human resources including midwives and achieve both the National Health and Millennium Development goals.
 
Health workers need to earn a living, just like all the other professionals.

Health workers deserve conducive working conditions. They are a dedicated, highly skilled, highly motivated and hardworking bunch, most of whom work in the hard to reach areas of our country where they are often isolated and without access to the urban amenities which we all take for granted.

The Ministry of Health and Child Welfare will continue working very hard to ensure that there is a happy and motivated workforce in the right place, with the right tools of the trade, to provide the right care for all Zimbabweans. 

The HTF has already been in force for a year now, enhancing the availability of essential medicines, medical Products, Vaccines and Technologies, and providing technical support for Health Policy, Planning and Finance.

We are grateful to the European Commission and all stakeholders who have worked together to enable us to eliminate user fees at rural health centres and ensure a human resource base that can deliver the services, and look forward to major improvements in our Maternal and Child Health statistics as a result of these efforts. In time this elimination of user fees will move to the district hospitals and urban clinics.

On behalf of the Government of Zimbabwe, I would like to thank the E.C. for this support. Together we will realise our vision of a healthy Zimbabwe, with quality health services, equitably distributed, as an accessible basic right of our people.
 
Long live the cordial Zimbabwe-EC relationships.