Health: wealth of a nation

By Joyce C Kadandara
Health is defined by the World Health Organisation as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.
The health of citizens of any nation, like our own beautiful Zimbabwe, must cater for the citizens’ emotional, social and physical well-being as determined by the social, political and economic context of our lives as well as our biology.
However, health and well-being elude the majority of Zimbabwean citizens, mostly women and their children.
A healthy future of a Zimbabwean society depends on the health of the children of today and their mothers who are guardians of the future and have done so for a long time as exemplified by all of us living today, including our leaders and politicians, who have survived childhood illnesses, achieved all the required milestones and attained a high standard of literacy and self-actualisation based on Maslow’s theory of development.
If it were not for those who cared day and night with very little, we would not be here today. Mothers and children including fathers matter, so does their health.
Let us all as a country work hard to ensure that the health of this nation is never compromised because if it is, Zimbabweans will not achieve any goals set and agreed to, let alone the Zimbabwean Millennium Development Goals indicated in the 2004 Progress Report signed by the highest office in the land, the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe.
It is a fact that health is an essential objective of development. The capacity to develop is itself dependent on health. The health status of our nation, therefore, is the wealth of Zimbabweans and requires support from all of us especially from those in authority able to debate critical issues well and reach decisions that keep the health boat afloat at all times.
Nobody denies that economic problems will occur from time to time and at present the economic problems have caused a lot of turbulence which has derailed a lot of programmes especially in the health sector.
Awareness of the value of health for development was heightened during the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China, from September 4 -15, 1995.
Zimbabwe as a country sent a formidable team led by powerful female ministers who did their utmost best to ensure that various debates and fora had a couple of Zimbabwe delegates participating and contributing to the debates fully and with confidence.
A number of global conferences to address women and children, the building blocks of any nation, have been held in many settings, e.g. Mexico City, Copenhagen and Nairobi, to name a few.
From each of the global conferences emerged a more powerful recognition of the crucial role of women in sustainable development and protecting the environment. Health, therefore, should be seen as an essential objective of development.
The capacity to develop is itself dependent on health. The health status of any nation cannot therefore be traded off for any economic gain.
Health contributes enormously to economic activity and intellectual capacity needed to develop as a nation. It can, therefore, be argued that the achievement of appropriate health objective is an important measure of the effectiveness of development strategies.
Despite the effects of development policies on health, the knowledge gained overtime, has not been systematically integrated into the process of policymaking.
The impact that development policies have on health is seldom referred back to the policies themselves.
If this was done, policymakers and all concerned actors in both Government and the private sector would continuously make workable adjustment which can avert adverse health outcomes before they occur.
Instead we have witnessed a continuing tendency to leave the emerging new health situations and problems within the domain of the health services to multiply and get worse.
The main concern is to leave the health services to deal with the multiple problems and situations that they find difficult to tackle without adequate resources needed for an expanding population.
It’s daily needs and the increasing burden of disease caused by the HIV/Aids, TB, malaria, cholera due to the inadequate provision of clean water and poor waste disposal strategies that should work efficiently, not to mention the tools of the health trade required at all levels of the referral system in both the public sector and private sector which leaves a lot to be desired, vis-a-vis the provision of care to the nation.
Zimbabwe as a full member of the World Health Organisation is guided by some of the WHO excerpts indicated below. The Ministry of Health and Child Welfare is the major representative of the country in all WHO conferences held in Geneva yearly and in the African Region WHO Offices in Brazzaville, Congo.
The excerpts are obtained from the WHO basic document -38th edition, Geneva, WHO, 1990.
l The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is of the fundamental right of very human being without distinction, race, religion, political, belief, economic, or social condition.
l The health of all peoples is fundamental to the attainment of peace and security and is depended upon the fullest cooperation of individuals and states.
l Informed opinion and active cooperation on the part of the public are of the utmost importance in the improvement of the health of people.
l Governments have a responsibility for the health of their people which can be fulfilled only by the provision of adequate health and social measures.
The above excepts indicate the agreements reached by the member states through the various meetings they attend.
It can therefore not be denied or argued that the protection of health and the improvement of health status must, therefore, become essential conditions of the Zimbabwe economic policy.
The health sector is operating in a very competitive and harsh economical environment. Clearly, the long period of adequate funding provided to the public health sector from the 1980s -1990s is no longer available to meet the demands of this critical sector which every one needs.
All citizens of this nation are candidates to health care and critical interventions in our lives.
“We are a candidate for a hospital bed someday in our lives” to enable the health care sector save lives and prevent illnesses requires a highly trained, seasoned and disciplined workforce to man every level where health is delivered from the family, community, school, workplace, hospital at all times, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365/6days a year. The health infrastructure has to be fully equipped with all the necessary and modern tools of the trade.
The cutting edge of quality improvements and the care are best initiated by workers themselves because they are in the unique positions to identify opportunities and innovations.
Health workers function as gatekeepers and navigators for the effectiveness and efficient application of the new knowledge in disease patterns and other resources such as drugs, vaccine supplies and modern technology used in diagnosis and in critical care departments.
The African continent medical and nursing brain drain has not escaped Zimbabwe. The imperative in today’s public health care sector in Zimbabwe is to strengthen the workforce so that the health sector both the public and the private can begin to stabilise and offer the care needed by all its citizens.
The health workers man complex organisations whose core business is to deliver an efficient and effective health care, whose main product is a “healthy nation” able to work and produce the required commodities to keep the country on an even keel and start activities that matter in life, i.e. family unit, education, skills needed to run a country smoothly, a healthy generation of mothers and fathers able to have quality time with families and friends and pursue some leisure activities.
All human beings need stability and being valued in their lives. That love and value start in the home, is extended to the community at large, the schools, churches and eventually to the workplace. The health team of experts is needed at all levels.
However, as most of us are aware, there is no setting where health care is delivered which does not rely on nurses consequently the critical knowledge experience that nurses have should bring critical advice and knowledge to policymakers on how to provide adequate manpower to improve the delivery of care.
Hopefully, the “Bonding of Nurses” debate has been resolved amicably by those concerned. Hopefully, all health professionals bonded to save their country will not have doubts about future employment.
The population growth, burden of diseases dictates that adequate staffing patterns should be visited and revisited on regular basis. Modern medicine and modern investigative procedures requires a stable health professional workforce able to act quickly and cater for patients’ needs in acceptable waiting times.
Our current emergency departments and out-patients needs acceptable waiting times. Our current emergency departments and out-patients are a hive of activities and waiting time for patients are highly unaccept-able.
The communication of what is going, needs to be greatly improved and monitoring of the clinical areas need urgent review so that relevant steps can be instituted immediately aimed at improving patient care and cutting down on waiting time.
I am convinced that consultants and their hardworking teams will evaluate the current state of affairs. As a consumer of health in my twilight years, I am not afraid to say standards have gone down and I am sure the health team will rise to the occasion and bring back the excellent care, empathy and value for life which is the hallmark of the health team.
Those in position of authority both in Government, private sector and industry cannot ignore the plight of the health sector, and the cries from the health teams have been loud and clear. These professionals need adequate resources both in training colleges, clinical and community areas to turn around the health sector and to bring it back to the excellent performance of yesteryear. The team is dedicated. It has taken an oath to serve the nation and will not waiver from that promise. Help them to help all of us.
Please politicians of all various levels and parties, we have one beautiful country, which is poised for great things, help us come together and do the best for our country. This is our land of hope and glory won after a long struggle. We are one, together, we can make it. God bless Zimbabwe and its people.
Health for all always – united we stand, divided we fall.
l The author is a social worker, who has worked on many community development projects in Zimbabwe.