Rumbidzayi Zinyuke in Nyanga
In a development expected to strengthen staffing levels across the country’s health institutions, the Health Service Commission (HSC) has filled close to 60 percent of the 8 000 additional health worker posts created by Government this year.
The recruitment drive is part of Zimbabwe’s broader commitment to double its health workforce by 2030 under the Human Resources for Health Investment Compact, which seeks to address critical staffing shortages, improve retention and ensure equitable distribution of health professionals.
Signed in October 2024 alongside the Health Workforce Strategy 2023-2030, the compact commits Government to creating and sustaining at least 32 000 additional public health jobs, reducing health worker attrition by 50 percent and increasing annual training output from 3 334 in 2022 to at least 7 000 graduates by 2030.
The strategy also seeks to strengthen health workforce financing, improve working conditions and address the uneven distribution of health professionals, particularly in rural and underserved communities.
Speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing HSC 2026-2030 Strategic Plan Review meeting in Nyanga, HSC secretary Dr Christopher Pasi said the Commission had made notable progress in implementing its workforce expansion targets, although gaps remain in the distribution of specialised skills.
“Government has increased the establishment of the workforce over the past two years, and this past year, 2026, we had about 8 000 new posts that were added, and we have managed to improve the availability of the workforce by filling in almost 60 percent of that proportion,” he said.
The expansion comes against a background of longstanding health workforce shortages, with the 2022 Health Labour Market Analysis indicating that Zimbabwe had just over 22 health workers per 10 000 people, against a global benchmark of about 44 per 10 000.
Dr Pasi said the Commission was also prioritising strategies to attract and retain health workers in rural areas, where the majority of Zimbabwe’s population lives.
He said the Commission was developing a three-tier rural retention programme that would classify areas according to their level of accessibility and inform the incentives and interventions needed to attract and retain health professionals.
The programme is intended to address geographical inequalities in staffing and ensure that communities in hard-to-reach areas have better access to healthcare services.
“We are looking at retention and attracting the health workforce in hard-to-reach areas, in particular rural areas, where the majority of our population stays,” he said.
The strategic plan review is assessing progress against key performance indicators covering health workforce availability, performance, remuneration and staff welfare.
Dr Pasi said the Commission had also introduced programmes focusing on employee wellness and occupational safety and health, recognising the importance of creating a supportive working environment for health professionals.
He said the review was also shifting attention towards measuring the impact of the Commission’s interventions on the people it serves.
“In this last quarter, whatever we are doing must translate to citizen satisfaction. We are looking at citizen satisfaction, employee satisfaction and health worker satisfaction,” he said.
The review comes as Government continues implementing its Health Workforce Strategy 2023-2030 and the broader national development agenda, which identifies a skilled, adequately staffed and motivated health workforce as critical to achieving universal health coverage and the country’s Vision 2030 aspirations.
The Commission’s efforts are guided by the commitment to leave no one and no place behind, with equitable access to quality healthcare remaining a key priority.
