The Global Financing Facility is a country led partnership in achieving the government’s aspirations as it progresses towards Universal Health Coverage and Attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Zimbabwe joined the Global Financing Facility and became one of the 10 new countries to do so in 2019. As a result, the country will benefit from a total 25 Million United States Dollars Grant to complement available funding from the Government of Zimbabwe and other development partners in the health sector to ensure better health outcomes for the population of Zimbabwe.
The GFF grant (25 million for Zimbabwe) is a catalytic fund for attainment of health and nutrition for women, children and adolescents with government in the lead. With such a focus, the following are the indicators that will be tracked
Core RMNCAH-N Impact Indicators
- Maternal Mortality Ratio,
2. Under-5 Mortality Rate,
3. New-born Mortality Rate,
4. Prevalence of Stunting among Children Under 5,
5. Prevalence of Moderate to Severe Wasting among Children under 5
Learning from the front runner, the first and second wave of countries that joined GFF, health systems strengthening and reforms were also noted to be important. Therefore GFF has a focus in Health Financing and Reforms with the following as indicators of interest
Core Health Financing Indicators
1. Health expenditure per capita financed from domestic sources,
2. Ratio of Government Health Expenditure to Total Government Expenditure,
3. Percent of Current Health Expenditure Devoted to Primary Health Care ,
4. Incidence of Financial Catastrophe due to Out-of-Pocket Payments)
GFF Processes to date
Since Zimbabwe joined the GFF, the country participated at the GFF country workshop for the 10 new countries which was held in Dar es Salaam from the 29th of September 2019 to the 5 of October 2019. The country delegation had 10 people led by the GFF Government Focal Points namely Dr Robert Mudyiradima from the Ministry of Health and Child Care and Mr Percy Takavarasha from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.
The country delegation came up with an action plan which when presented to the MoHCC Top Management Team was put into action through a roadmap adopted by the country platform on the 29th of October in Bulawayo. One of the key deliverables is for the country to come up with a Health Sector Investment Case. Zimbabwe has taken a different approach from most GFF countries by developing a Health Sector Investment Case rather than a GFF Investment Case. Through implementation of the Roadmap the TWG that was set up managed to come up with the Health Sector Investment Case Draft by the 10th of January which will be finalized in the second quarter of 2020 upon completion of development of the National Health Sector Strategy 2021-2025. This draft has since been shared by the MoHCC to relevant stakeholders for comments.
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) Engagement in the GFF Processes
To enhance CSOs engagement a GFF Capacity Building and Sensitization workshop was convened by the Community Working Group on Health with funding support from the GFF Secretariat. At this meeting held from 18 to 20 February 2020 the CSOs with special interest in health in Zimbabwe had an opportunity to give comments on the Draft Health Sector Investment Case as well as interact with the GFF Secretariat Focal Point for Zimbabwe Dr Ayodeji Oluwole Odutolu, and GFF Knowledge and Learning Officer Mr Luis Pinto.
Zimbabwe Leading from the front on GFF Processes
To date Zimbabwe has made tremendous progress in the GFF processes so far with guidance from the Top Management within MoHCC, as a result the country has shared its experience on the Road Map and the Country Platfrom during 2 webinar sessions that have been organized by the GFF secretariat held in December 2019 and February 2020 respectively