History

A short history of the Zimbabwe Network for Health

• In 2005, following an article in the media about the state of disrepair of Harare Hospital, a referral and teaching hospital in the capital city of Zimbabwe, many health-care providers, doctors, nurses and beneficiaries of the institution were very perturbed and moved to take action. In Switzerland, a group of Zimbabweans initiated discussions via e-mail about what they could do to assist in refurbishing Harare Hospital and other health facilities back home.  From these discussions it became evident that Zimbabweans in the Diaspora were very keen and willing to help bring back the hospital to a functional status.

 

• Initially, a small group of Zimbabweans in Switzerland agreed to contribute an initial amount of 500 Swiss francs each, followed by a commitment of 100 Suisse francs per month into a named account. That was the beginning of the Zimbabwe Network for Health (ZimHealth).  Since its formation in December 2006, ZimHealth has been joined by other Zimbabweans in Africa. One of the founding members has since moved to the United States of America and established and registered a similar charity in America in February 2008.

 

• Health services in Zimbabwe continued to deteriorate to such a degree that Harare hospital was no longer the only institution in need of support. Other hospitals experienced shortages of medicines, syringes and other equipment that they had to close down, including referral maternity hospitals. This was followed by difficulties at the primary health-care clinic level to deliver quality health-care services, mostly in the urban settings.

 

• On 14 December 2008 ZimHealth and the Zimbabwe Advocacy Office convened a meeting in Geneva to respond to the humanitarian and health crisis in Zimbabwe.  Some 25 people attended the meeting from many parts of Switzerland and pledged to support to respond to the crisis. Since that meeting the number of contributors to the ZimHealth fund has grown. The first project has been identified and plans are under way to procure materials to ship to Harare in the first instance, soon to be followed by support to other cities such as Bulawayo and then onto district levels, subject to adequate mobilisation of funds from Zimbabweans in the Diaspora and other well wishers in Switzerland and the rest of Europe. The first project will be done jointly with the charity in the USA to maximise the response.

 

• All funds raised will be used to purchase equipment, medicines and other supplies needed by health facilities owned by government, religious organizations and local authorities.  ZimHealth believes that these health facilities will treat all Zimbabweans irrespective of their political, religious and cultural background.