- Seven in 10 Zimbabweans (70%) say they worry “a lot” about the possibility of falling ill and failing to obtain or afford the requisite medical care. Most of the rest worry “somewhat” (13%) or “a little” (9%).
- A vast majority (87%) of citizens report that they don’t have medical aid coverage to lean on when they experience medical problems. o Among the 13% with medical aid coverage, more than six in 10 (63%) say they are covered by private health insurance, while three in 10 (31%) are part of a public sector insurance scheme. o Two-thirds (68%) of citizens with health insurance say they are satisfied with their coverage. o Unaffordability is the main reason Zimbabweans do not have medical aid, cited by 61% of respondents who lack coverage.
- About half (49%) of Zimbabweans report that they had contact with a public clinic or hospital in the 12 months preceding the survey. Among them: o More than half (55%) say it was “difficult” or “very difficult” to obtain the medical care they needed. o Almost one-fifth (18%) report having to pay a bribe to get medical care, including 5% who say they had to do so “often.” o Majorities say they encountered a lack of medicines or supplies (86%), high costs that prevented them from obtaining the care or medicines they needed (82%), long wait times (74%), facilities in poor condition (67%), and absent medical personnel (61%).
- Six in 10 Zimbabweans (61%) say the government is performing badly on improving basic health services, while 38% think it is doing well.
- Two-thirds (66%) call on the government to ensure that all citizens have access to adequate health care, even if that means raising taxes.
- An overwhelming majority (84%) of Zimbabweans support mandatory vaccination of children against infectious diseases such as measles and polio.
The right to health care is enshrined in Section 76 of Zimbabwe’s Constitution. This provision obliges the state to take reasonable steps, subject to resource constraints, to ensure that every citizen and permanent resident receives access to basic health care services (Veritas, 2013). Health services can be obtained through public or non-profit facilities, religious/mission organisations, and the private for-profit sector, all overseen by the Ministry of Health and Child Care (2016).
In 2022, spending on health care accounted for 12.7% of the national budget, the third largest budgetary item. Though larger than in most African countries, this proportion is still below the 15% agreed to in the 2001 Abuja Declaration (Ndebele, 2022). Besides inadequate financing, Zimbabwe’s health sector faces myriad other challenges, including a lack of regular maintenance, shortages of essential medicines and medical personnel, and demotivated staff (Mbofana, 2021). The deteriorating state of health care in the country has triggered calls from legislators urging President Emmerson Mnangagwa to declare the public health system a national disaster in hopes that this will unlock emergency resources needed to resuscitate the sector (ZimEye, 2025).
Brain drain is a long-standing problem as health professionals flee poor working conditions and political and economic instability in search of better opportunities abroad. The UK’s National Health Service reported in 2019 that it was employing 4,049 Zimbabwean health care professionals (doctors, nurses, and clinical staff) (Moyo, 2024). By June 2022, the figure had risen to 5,460. More than 4,000 health workers left Zimbabwe in 2021 and 2022 (Farmer & Thornycroft, 2023; Moyo, 2024). In 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) added Zimbabwe to its “red list” of countries with dire health-worker shortages.
The government has tried to curtail this exodus by shifting the issuing of verification letters (documents required by nurses seeking employment outside the country) from the Nurses Council to the health ministry, slowing down the process. Officials in the ministry have been accused of demanding bribes, too (Matiashe & Batha, 2023). The government has engaged the United Nations in an effort to recover millions of dollars from countries that have recruited health-care workers from Zimbabwe (Gondo, 2022).
Among the general population, health insurance is limited: In June 2024, the Community Working Group on Health reported that merely 7% of Zimbabweans have medical insurance, while 93% rely on cash payments for health care (Nyamuziwa, 2024). Challenges plaguing the health insurance sector include difficult macroeconomic conditions, fraud by health care providers, and allegations of poor service delivery (Mhazo, Maponga, & Mossialos, 2023; Zinyuke, 2025; Musungwini, 2023; Musarurwa & Marufu, 2016).
Certain social attitudes may also contribute to public health risks. As was evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine hesitancy is a challenge, especially among some religious groups that do not believe in Western medicine, and represents a barrier in the fight against six killer diseases that affect children (measles, poliomyelitis, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, and tuberculosis) (Marisa, 2022).
What do Zimbabweans think about public health care in their country? This dispatch reports findings from a special survey module on the health sector included in Afrobarometer’s Round 10 surveys.
Findings show that an overwhelming majority of Zimbabweans are worried about falling ill and failing to obtain the requisite medical care. A vast majority of citizens report that they don’t have medical aid coverage; cost is the most frequently cited reason.
More than half of Zimbabweans say the government is performing badly on improving basic health services. In the eyes of the public, two significant challenges facing the public health sector are high costs and a lack of medicines, each cited by more than eight in 10 respondents who had contact with a public health facility in the past year.
Two-thirds call upon the government to ensure citizens’ access to adequate health care, even if this comes at the cost of raising taxes.
Turning to the question of childhood vaccination, the survey finds strong popular support for mandatory vaccination against infectious diseases such as measles and polio.
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