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As cited in T.Chihota (2023) ,health care system refers to mechanisms used by the government to make sure that the population has a universal access to health and social being. The primary health care system in Zimbabwe is defined by Chihota encompassing primary health care services . The primary health care system in Zimbabwe has a number of functions which are; to promote food supply and appropriate nutrition ,offer maternal and child care services , offer health education, provision of essential drugs and treatment of common diseases and the immunisation of women and children . However, the above mentioned functions of the primary health care system have not been successful in most areas in Zimbabwe due to a number of challenges being encountered such as lack of funding, poor attendance and religious beliefs. Therefore, this essay seeks to assess the functions of primary heath care in Zimbabwe.
First and foremost, the primary health care system’s main function in Zimbabwe is to promote food supply and appropriate nutrition . A programme introduced in 2010 has been functioning properly in helping to eradicate mulnutrition in rural area which are characterized by food insecurity. For instance ,Muzvidziwa conducted a case study in Mt Darwin and found out that high numbers of malnutrition are a result of poor quality of food given to children to lower chances of kwashiorker. Hence ,this proves that the promotion of food supply and appropriate nutrition is one of the functions of primary health care that has been useful in eradicating malnutrition in Zimbabwe. However, this function’s credibility is weakened by the fact that if the community continues to be poor due to food production ,this the means malnutrition would remain a challenge in rural areas in Zimbabwe .The Department of Nutrition in the Ministry of Health and Child Care has never gained status because it is sized with limited staff, finances and outreach capacity .As a result, activities done to promote nutrition have remained at a lower limit due to other additional factors such as drought. Hence ,this leads to malnutrition in other communities in Zimbabwe . Therefore ,this functions of the primary health care is less likely to proceed due to the stated challenges.
On the vital list of the functions of the health care system, there is maternal and child care services in Zimbabwe. In rural areas, the primary health care programme offers maternal and infant health care services including family planning .To Muzvidziwa , the primary health care was first introduced with a feature of maternal and child care services due to woes of maternal and child morality which were severe .The programme has been perceived as successful as the health mothers and their babies improved remakably.For example ,in Zimbabwe statistics have reviewed that haphazard bearing of children and unnecessary pregnancies have reduced due to family planning . Hence , offering maternal and child care services has been functioning well in the primary health care system. However, offering maternal and child care services has not really solved the problem of maternity.This is because ,some women do not show up on health centers on specific dates for frequent checkups. For instance in Zimbabwe, most women do not go to hospital after birth .This is because of the apostolic sect which delivers women at home ,this makes women not to go to clinics despite the removal of the user fees.Hence,this can lead to death of both mother and child because of poor health facilities . Therefore , offering maternal and child care services has been marred by the mentioned unhealthy challenges.
In the same discourse, the primary health care system in Zimbabwe also offers health education. According to Muzvidziwa ,rural health care workers are very useful, as they have managed to equip people in communities with knowledge to reduce resistance to prevailing sicknesses. Meetings are being held in primary health care centers in order to target community leaders . For instance, when the Rota Vaccine was introduced as a new drug to treat diarrhea in infants village health care workers conducted meetings and campaigns. Also, almost all mothers now in a position to prepare salt and sugar solution to cure diareah.Hence , offering health education is another crucial function of primary heath care. However , the credibility and effectiveness of this function is a subject of debate. This is due to the fact people in rural areas do not attend the meetings held by primary health care services in great numbers to get education free of charge. In most cases these meetings will be held at clinics or schools which can be far from villages.Therefore,the function of the primary care service which of offering health education is being undermined because some people do not attend meetings .
Also ,the primary health care system in Zimbabwe has been providing essential drugs and treatment of common diseases .The primary health care system also provides essential drugs required to treat illness.The primary health care system has been treating common diseases like Malaria because of the availability of essential drugs .This has been benefiting mostly the lives of the residents in the rural area communities such as old age .Hence ,the provision of essential drugs has greatly benefited rural areas for it has also saved them labour of going to far hospitals . However ,this function has also suffered from some drawbacks which may include the delay by government to deliver drugs or the delay by district to attend to the proposal and reports from clinics .There is also a challenge of drugs expiring due to lack of proper facilities to store them , especially those who require refrigeration .For instance,in rural areas in Bikita Zimbabwe ,there is no access to electricity even at clinics .This ,then leads to the expiring of drugs .Therefore ,the provision of essential drugs and treatment of common diseases has been suffering from drawbacks like expiring of drugs due to lack of facilities .
In conclusion ,the primary health care system in Zimbabwe ,has been very useful that is because of its functions .These functions include health education and the promotion of food supply and appropriate nutrition.Hence , this means that the primary health care system in Zimbabwe has been successful to some extent because it cater for the people’s needs .However ,the primary health care system has been failing drastically to contain and help people in Zimbabwe .This is because drugs are expiring and there’s also lack of proper facilities to store them.Hence ,this has reduced the credibility of the primary health care system in Zimbabwe.
Tatenda chihota is a Zimbabwean sociology author
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