Online Reporter
Trust Freddy
Herald Correspondent
THE Government has reaffirmed its commitment to providing equitable Sexual and Reproductive Health Services (SRHR) across the life course, saying policies must protect children while ensuring adolescents can access information and care based on evidence.
The pledge was made by Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care Sleiman Kwidini on Tuesday while officially opening the 4th Annual Reproductive Justice Litigation Baraza in Harare.
The high-level continental forum, taking place outside Uganda for the first time, brings together judicial officers, legal experts, policymakers, medical practitioners, parliamentarians, and youth representatives from across Africa.
“The Government of Zimbabwe remains committed to ensuring that every citizen and permanent resident has access to equitable, affordable, and quality healthcare through the Primary Health Care approach,” the Deputy Minister said.
The high-level continental gathering, running under the theme “Age as a Determinant of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights”, started on Monday and will conclude on Friday.
Deputy Minister Kwini said this year’s theme reflected Government’s view that SRHR is a life-course issue.
“Age influences health needs, access to services, and the barriers people encounter throughout their lives,” he said.
“While much attention is rightly given to adolescents, we must also recognize the needs of adults and older persons.
“Reproductive justice is a life-course issue, and our policies, laws, and health systems must respond accordingly.”
He also acknowledged that adolescent pregnancy remains a challenge, with “nearly one in four young women giving birth before the age of eighteen.”
Government, he said, has trained more than 5,000 health workers to provide adolescent-friendly services and is working with communities through initiatives such as Not in My Village to address child marriage and early pregnancy.
On access to family planning, he noted ongoing public debate.
“We recognise the ongoing discussions around age-related legal provisions governing access to family planning,” he said.
“As Government, we remain committed to ensuring that our policies protect children while enabling them to access the information and healthcare they need, guided by evidence and the best interests of the child.”
Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, the former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, commended Zimbabwe’s landmark 2016 Constitutional Court ruling (Mudzuru and Tsopodzi), which outlawed child marriage by establishing 18 as the uniform legal age for marriage.
She, however, criticised rigid legal age barriers that restrict access to essential sexual and reproductive health information, contraception, and post-abortion care, calling on legal experts to dismantle outdated colonial-era legal codes in favour of frameworks rooted in human rights and the African philosophy of Ubuntu.
Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) Legal Officer Ms Lorraine Mumba said the primary objective of the Baraza is to formulate concrete strategic litigation guidelines to enhance constitutionally guaranteed rights.
“The conversations taking place this week are looking at the use of litigation to further constitutionally enshrined rights to reproductive health,” Ms Mumba said.
“We are developing clear strategic litigation guidelines and goals that will work towards expanding access to health, regardless of age.”
The Baraza is co-hosted by the Community Working Group on Health (CWGH), Women and Law in Southern Africa (WLSA) Zimbabwe, the Law Society of Zimbabwe, and Pan-African civil society organisation Afya na Haki (Ahaki).
