The Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr Douglas Mombeshora has warned that Zimbabwe’s ambitions to attain upper-middle-income status and achieve Universal Health Coverage by 2030 will remain unattainable without sustained investment in the country’s health workforce.
Addressing the inaugural High-Level Health Workforce Investment Dialogue at Manna Resort yesterday, Dr Mombeshora said Zimbabwe must urgently strengthen domestic financing, improve staff retention and modernise health workforce systems to safeguard the country’s healthcare delivery framework.
“This Dialogue comes at a critical time for our country and indeed for the global health community.
Countries must invest sustainably in their own health workforce systems, strengthen domestic financing, improve retention, and avoid practices that weaken already fragile health systems through unchecked international recruitment,” Dr Mombeshora added.
The Minister said the issue of health worker migration had featured prominently during the Seventy-Ninth World Health Assembly held recently in Geneva, where global leaders reaffirmed the need to discourage aggressive recruitment from countries already battling critical shortages of health personnel.
“For Zimbabwe, this global conversation was both timely and relevant. It underscored the urgency of building a resilient, adequately financed, and well-supported health workforce that can meet the needs of our people while contributing to global health security,” he said.
Dr Mombeshora revealed that under the Zimbabwe Health Workforce Investment Compact 2024-2026, Government aims to double the country’s health workforce by 2030 through the creation of 32,000 new posts, reducing attrition by 50 percent and increasing annual training output to at least 7,000 graduates.
“Our ambition is therefore not merely to increase numbers, but to build a fit-for-purpose workforce capable of responding to emerging health challenges, demographic shifts, climate-related threats, and evolving disease burdens,” he said.
The Minister said Government had already made notable progress under the Health Workforce Investment Compact Steering Committee, including the prioritisation of 1,292 critical health cadres for absorption into the Ministry establishment following reductions in external funding support.
He added that an additional 532 positions had been earmarked for future integration.
“This demonstrates Government’s commitment to safeguarding essential health services and protecting our health workforce,” said Dr Mombeshora.
The Health Minister also disclosed that Government had developed a costed Health Workforce Retention Scheme valued at approximately US$11.8 million, targeting especially rural-based health personnel.
“This intervention recognises that retention is not only about remuneration, but also about working conditions, accommodation, career development, welfare, and professional recognition,” he said.
Dr Mombeshora said nearly 5,000 trainees were admitted into health training institutions in 2025 as part of efforts to expand institutional capacity and modernise training infrastructure.
Despite the progress, he acknowledged persistent challenges, particularly delays in funding disbursements and slow recruitment processes.
“Treasury approval for more than 5,000 posts was a commendable step, but recruitment processes must now be expedited to ensure these positions translate into actual service delivery improvements on the ground,” he said.
The Minister called for a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach, saying health workforce development intersects with education, finance, labour, housing, local government and digital infrastructure sectors.
“The health workforce is the backbone of our health system and one of the most important investments any nation can make. By investing in our health workers, we are investing in the health, productivity, and prosperity of Zimbabwe,” he said.
Zimbabwe adopted the Health Workforce Strategy 2023-2030 following findings from the 2022 Health Labour Market Analysis, which highlighted staffing shortages, migration of skilled personnel and the need for sustainable investment in healthcare human resources.
