Govt. To Absorb 22,000 Community Health Workers Into Civil Service – Health Minister

Zimbabwe will integrate 22,000 Community Health Workers (CHWs) into the civil service by the end of the year, Health and Child Care Minister Douglas Mombeshora has announced.

Mombeshora made the announcement on Tuesday while officiating at the inaugural Multi-Stakeholder Community Health Forum in Mazowe, which was supported by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and other partners.

He said the integration process is expected to be completed before year-end, a move that comes amid declining donor funding and growing calls for CHWs to be formally recognised as civil servants.

According to the minister, 22,009 health workers have already been recruited, and under the Health Sector Investment Compact (2024–2026), the government plans to double that number by 2030. He said:

“The Government now aims at having two VHWs per village as well as integrating 22,000 CHWs into the civil service by the end of this year.

“We set a target of having 40,000 institutionalised CHWs by 2030, aligned with the Zimbabwe Health Sector Investment Compact 2024–2026.”

Reflecting on the history of community health work in Zimbabwe, Mombeshora said:

“Today marks a milestone in Zimbabwe’s journey to strengthen its community health system. We convene here in Mazowe at a pivotal moment when both our nation and the world recognise that healthy communities form the foundation of a resilient health system. Without robust community health structures, our national strategies cannot succeed.

“In 1980, Zimbabwe shifted from a curative, urban-based system focused on a minority to a Primary Health Care (PHC) approach that emphasised prevention and health promotion for the largely rural population.

“The following year, Government formally launched the National Village Health Worker (VHW) Program with the ambitious target of training 15,000 village-based health workers to extend basic health services into communities that previously had no access.”

The number has grown significantly to the current 22,000 VHWs, supported by a new Community Health Service Package that addresses the evolving needs of society and plays a key role in advancing universal health coverage.

Community health workers are now an integral part of the health system.

More: HealthTimes

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