Treasury slashes Health Ministry's 2026 national budget bid

Zimbabwe's public health sector is confronting a potential funding crisis after the Ministry of Health and Child Care was instructed by Treasury to reduce its 2026 budget request, raising concerns over the sustainability of essential health services.

Presenting the ministry's 2025 budget performance and 2026 bids to a joint sitting of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Health and the Thematic Committee on Health, Permanent Secretary for Health, Aspect Maunganidze, revealed that Treasury had capped the allocation at ZWL$24.19 billion, representing only 28% of the ministry's original request.

"We have been advised that our cap for allocation will be ZWL$24.19 billion. This speaks to about only 28%. If you recall our 2025 figures, we requested about ZWL$94 billion and got around ZWL$28 billion, roughly 30%. So, this year's allocation is actually lower than that of 2025," Maunganidze said.

The ministry's full 2026 budget bid totals ZWL$85.3 billion, covering four major programmes: Policy and Administration, Public Health, Curative Services, and Biomedical Engineering, Science, Pharmaceuticals, and Biopharmaceutical Protection.

Maunganidze noted that Zimbabwe's health budget has consistently fallen short of international targets. The Abuja Declaration recommends at least 15% of national budgets be allocated to health, yet allocations in Zimbabwe have fluctuated between 9.82% in 2024 and 13.01% in 2025, the highest in five years.

"Over the years, our health budget allocation has ranged from as low as 9.82% in 2024 to between 12% and 25% in 2021–2023. The 2025 allocation of 13.01% was actually the highest in the last five years," Maunganidze said.

By September 2025, the ministry had received only ZWL$11.4 billion of the ZWL$27.2 billion allocated for the year, representing 41% of the expected funds. Despite the shortfall, expenditure efficiency remained high, with 92% of the received funds already utilised.

The permanent secretary highlighted the impact of declining donor support, particularly cuts in funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which have historically supported HIV, tuberculosis, and maternal health initiatives.

"This has resulted in the need for much more robust resource mobilisation. It's a challenge that has always been looming, but for sustainable health interventions, we must invest locally," Maunganidze said.

Despite financial constraints, Maunganidze noted progress in key health indicators, including increased life expectancy, the achievement of HIV/AIDS targets, and continued development of the health workforce.

However, the combination of budget caps and reduced donor funding has raised concerns over the delivery of critical services, including drug procurement, HIV prevention, and maternal health care, threatening the gains made in Zimbabwe's public health sector.