‘Provide tax incentives to fund the health sector’

Farirai Machivenyika, Senior Reporter

Government should come up with tax incentives that encourage corporates and individuals to invest in the health sector as part of mechanisms to fund the health budget and reduce the country’s dependence on donor funding, stakeholders in the health sector said yesterday.

They said this during a workshop organised by the Southern Africa Parliamentary Support Trust to gather their input into the 2025 budget that will be presented by Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube later this year.

In the 2025 budget strategy paper tabled by Prof Ncube in Parliament in July, Government is targeting to improve health infrastructure through rehabilitation and construction of hospitals and clinics, improve availability of medicines, equipment and the improvement of working conditions for health workers.

In his remarks, Mr Munya Chimwara, the national director of Pangea Zimbabwe, said tax incentives was one way of raising domestic resources.

“Government should come up with tax incentives which should encourage corporates to invest in the health sector. This is done in many countries and we should follow suit,” he said.

He added that community share ownership schemes should be revived so that communities benefit from their resources with the funds generated being invested in areas such as health and education.

Ms Tariro Kutadza, a TB champion for StopTB Partnership Zimbabwe and Global Fund coordinating committee member, said indications by some donors that they will cut funding on HIV and Aids programmes means the country must come up with local solutions.

“Eighty percent of our treatment for Malaria, TB and HIV are paid for by the Global Fund. We have 1,1 million people in the country on ARV treatment and 700 000 of those are funded by Global Fund and it’s talking of transitioning, so as we are looking at the budget, we should also look at these issues,” she said.

Chaurice Dzimwasha, a youth sexual reproductive health activist urged Government to refurbish existing buildings and turn them into health centres.

“It’s one thing for us to ask for the construction of a new building when we have certain structures that already exist in different provinces that could be turned into health centres,” she said.

The 2024 budget Government introduced a sugar tax to fund cancer treatment through procurement of medicines and equipment.

A one percent tax on revenues generated from the exportation of lithium and black granite was also introduced to fund development initiatives that include health facilities in the areas they are mined.