Sikhulekelani Moyo [email protected]
ZIMSMART Villages is converting Zimbabwe Postal Services (ZimPost) facilities into digital health clinics as part of efforts to improve access to healthcare in rural communities, where about 67 percent of Zimbabwe’s population lives.
The initiative uses existing infrastructure, digital connectivity and community-based health workers to bring medical consultations, diagnostic services and medicines closer to underserved communities.
Presenting at the Zimbabwe Economic Development Conference (ZEDCON) 2026 in Bulawayo recently, ZimSmart Villages co-founder and chief operations officer Tawanda Njerere said the programme was addressing gaps in the way healthcare services were delivered to rural communities.
“The challenge is not the absence of a doctor, a clinic or a network signal. It is the absence of a connected pathway that brings those things all together,” he said.
ZimSmart has partnered with ZimPost, which has at least 250 facilities countrywide, to repurpose part of its post offices into digital health clinics.
“The mail business has, of course, changed its trajectory. So, through this partnership, we are converting part of those post offices into digital health clinics. By digital health clinics, these clinics are staffed by a registered general nurse,” said Mr Njerere.
“Within this very same digital health clinic, there is a point of care diagnostics that are within the post office setup. There’s also a small dispensary where the registered general nurse is also able to administer various types of medicines at the point of care.
“Where there are no post offices, ZimSmart has established modular clinics, repurposed containers. Combined with the modular clinics, digital health access points, and the one set up in post offices, we’ve been able to set up 28 to date.”
ZimSmart Villages is a digital health and telehealth initiative focused on extending healthcare access to rural and other underserved communities.
Mr Njerere said the model was designed to connect existing infrastructure with digital services and human support, rather than relying solely on the construction of new health facilities.
“I want to just give context to what ZimSmart Village is about. We are about connectivity, giving access to underserved communities in terms of healthcare. We are looking at at least 67 percent of the population that resides in rural communities. So, our target is primarily healthcare within these underserved communities,” he said.
He said technology was not intended to replace healthcare professionals, but to make services easier to access and navigate.
“The question is not whether technology can replace healthcare. Of course, we all know at this point it cannot. The question is how technology, infrastructure, and human support can make healthcare easier to reach, safer to navigate, and more accountable,” he said.
Mr Njerere said distance, transport costs and time spent travelling to health facilities remained major barriers, particularly for people who depended on farming, mining and other productive activities for their livelihoods.
He said the model sought to address these challenges by connecting community access points to healthcare professionals and diagnostic services.
“The research question that we addressed is very critical. How can shared infrastructure extend access while remaining measurable and accountable? The answer is, of course, not to build entirely new systems, it is to connect the different assets together that already exist,” he said.
The clinics use Starlink connectivity, while NetOne also provides connectivity, particularly at modular sites.
Mr Njerere said community-based digital health workers were another important component of the initiative, helping bridge the gap between households and medical professionals.
“The digital health community worker is capacitated with a bicycle, a Starlink kit, and a first aid or a first responder bag with medicines that enables them to go out into the community and actually respond to different causes and also enable doctor connectivity whilst they are at a household level,” he said.
He said recruiting workers from the communities they serve had also helped encourage the adoption of the model.
The service pathway includes community mobilisation and screening, remote consultations with doctors, diagnosis, referrals, tests, medication delivery and follow-up through digital health records.
Since its inception, ZimSmart has reached 118 000 Zimbabweans through its connected local healthcare delivery model, Mr Njerere said.
Its other services include community outreach, health kiosks, Ziso Health eye-screening outreach and corporate wellness programmes. One of its public-sector corporate wellness partnerships is with the public service through Premier Medical Aid Society.
Mr Njerere said expanding the model would require supportive regulations, effective coordination and evidence demonstrating its impact.
He proposed establishing regulated public-private infrastructure-sharing arrangements that would bring together local access points, connectivity, power, privacy protection and clinical governance.
He also called for the entire healthcare pathway to be strengthened, from community mobilisation and screening to referrals, medication delivery and follow-up, while ensuring health workers received adequate training, supervision and sustainable remuneration.
The third priority, he said, was documenting evidence from existing operations to demonstrate how the model could be replicated and scaled up across Zimbabwe.
He said the ultimate goal was to extend healthcare services to household level, particularly for people living in underserved communities.
