Zimbabwe

Several references to health-rights and duties can be found in the Constitution. The duties of the State in the area of health are addressed in the Chapter dedicated to National objectives, mostly under section 29. This section provides that the State must take measures to: ensure the provision of basic, accessible and adequate health services; ensure that no person is refused emergency medical treatment at any health institutions and; prevent the spread of diseases. Section 19, included in the same chapter, refers to the duties of the State to adopt policies and measures to ensure that children, among other things, have shelter and basic nutrition, health care and social services. Coupled to this, the Constitution recognizes specific rights in the area of health. Specifically, section 76 provides that every citizen and permanent resident of Zimbabwe has the right to have access to basic health-care services, including reproductive health-care services. It further grants people living with a chronic illness the right to have access to basic healthcare services for the illness and states that no person can be refused emergency medical treatment in any health care institution. Lastly this section includes an obligation for the State to take reasonable legislative and other measures, within the limits of the resources available to it, to achieve the progressive realisation of these rights. Health rights are also protected for specific groups such as children (section 81), the elderly (section 82), veterans (section 84).

Under section 301 of the Constitution, an Act of Parliament provides for the allocation of revenues between provincial and local tiers of government, taking into account, among other things, the need to provide basic services, including educational and health facilities, water, roads, social amenities and electricity to marginalised areas. At least 5% of the national revenues raised in the financial year must be allocated to the provinces and local authorities.

No current national health policy was located in the country.

The goal of the Zimbabwe National Health Strategy 2021-2025 is to improve quality of life in order to provide the highest possible level of health and quality of life for all citizens and permanent residents of Zimbabwe by 2030 (page 41).

The strategy identifies ten priorities, including improved leadership and governance of the health sector, enhanced reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and nutrition, improved health infrastructure and access to medical equipment, reduced morbidity and mortality due to communicable and non-communicable diseases, improved access to primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary and quinary health care services, improved access to essential medicines and commodities, increased access to water, sanitation and health, improved human resources performance in the health sector, increasing domestic funding for health services and improved public health emergency preparedness etc. (pp. 45-87).

The document references several laws and regulations, including the Public Health Act (Page 44), Health Services Act (page 44), Medicines and Allied Substances Control Act (MASCA) (page 31), Essential Medicines List of Zimbabwe (page 32).

Throughout the document, specific actions are outlined to strengthen the regulatory framework. For instance, the strategy emphasises the need to "Strengthen the implementation of the health-related legislation in the public and private sector" by reinforcing the implementation and enforcement of the Public Health Act and the Health Services Act under Strategic Intervention 3.1.1.2 (page 45). Under Strategic Intervention 3.4.4.1 "Strengthen food quality monitoring in the market", the strategy emphasises the enforcement of both the Public Health Act Chapter 15:17 and the Food and Food Standards Act Chapter 15:04 (page 65). Furthermore, Strategic Intervention 3.5.4.2 aims to "Develop and implement practitioner regulations for traditional and complementary medicine education and training, skills development, services and therapies" (page 72). Strategic Intervention 6.1.2 aims to "Consolidate the work of the regulator, Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ), through reviewing of the MCAZ Act" (page 76). Finally, the "Operationalization of the Public Health Act Implementation Framework" is defined as one of the key performance indicators under the monitoring and evaluation framework (page 96).