AsherAsher

@TIZim_info convened a reflective workshop in Gweru on strengthening institutional responses to corruption and building integrity within the health care sector. The workshop examined how corruption acts as a barrier to accessing quality healthcare, bringing together representatives from the Ministry of Health and Child Care, the Zimbabwe Gender Commission, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) and civil society organisations working in the health sector. This highlighted a shared commitment to ensuring that every woman and every citizen can access healthcare free from corruption. Participants left the workshop with a set of concrete next steps to carry the work forward, including jointly developing a framework to formally link facility-level complaint and reporting channels to relevant authorities, following up on the discrimination-related recommendations that emerged from the discussions, and supporting community monitoring in the facilities selected for the safe-spaces pilot, with findings to be fed back across the institutions involved. #EndCorruption #IntegrityInHealth #ZimHealth

Yesterday, the Young Women's Integrity Network, in partnership with Transparency International Zimbabwe, held a Young Women's Empowerment Circle in Pumula, creating a safe space for young women to share experiences, identify challenges, and propose solutions for more transparent and accountable public services. In attendance were Ward 17 Councillor, Alderman Sikhulekile Moyo, and a Community Health Nurse, Siphikelelo Nzima, Pumula Clinic. Two key priorities emerged for strengthening transparency and accountability in health service delivery at Council clinics: first, that clinics need a proper staff complement and adequate resources to ensure quality, accessible and responsive health services, particularly for young people and persons with disabilities; and second, that digitalising health service systems can strengthen transparency by enabling patients and stakeholders to track and monitor services, including medicine availability, while improving access to timely and reliable information.

TI Z hosted a community interface meeting with residents of St Peters and Mazwi Village in Bulawayo, giving the community a platform to raise integrity and accountability concerns around access to healthcare. The meeting was attended by the Pumula Councillor and a representative from the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) Health Department. Residents raised concerns about accountability in health service delivery, highlighting that St Peters has no clinic of its own. The community depends on a BCC mobile clinic that visits only once a month, supplemented by trips to other, more distant clinics, raising questions about how health resources are allocated and whether service delivery commitments to the community are being met. This gap in service delivery has a direct effect on the quality of care available to women, who rely most on regular access to maternal, reproductive and child health services. A once-a-month mobile clinic means women often face long waits or must travel further afield for antenatal care, family planning, and other routine services delays that can compromise the health of mothers and children in the community. #EndCorruption #Accountability #Bulawayo #HealthcareAccess