Fight Inequality Alliance (FIA) Zimbabwe, a broad based national advocacy network, has urged the government to expedite the National Health Insurance Bill, warning that delays are worsening healthcare inequality and leaving millions of Zimbabweans to shoulder the high cost of accessing medical services.
The call was made in Bulawayo on Friday during commemorations of the Global Day to Fight Inequality, a campaign aimed at exposing the root causes of inequality and promoting people-led solutions.
Speaking during an engagement with young people, FIA Zimbabwe National Coordinator Nqobizitha Mlambo, said inequality remained one of the country’s most pressing challenges.
“Today is a very special day for us as Fight Inequality Alliance joins the rest of the progressive world in commemorating the Global Day to Fight Inequality,” Mlambo said.
On this topic
“There has never been a specific global day dedicated solely to inequality, yet inequality remains one of the biggest challenges not only in Zimbabwe but across the world.”
He cited the latest Oxfam inequality report, which shows that the world’s richest one percent control more than half of global wealth.
“We have seen that the neoliberal economic system adopted after the Second World War has failed to redistribute wealth as promised. We were told that once capitalism thrived, wealth would trickle down from the rich to the poor. We have not seen that happen,” Mlambo said.
Turning to Zimbabwe, Mlambo said wealth remained concentrated in the hands of a small minority.
“Research by the Development Finance Institute and the Norwegian Church Aid revealed that the wealthiest 10 percent of Zimbabweans control around 50 percent of the country’s wealth, while the remaining 90 percent of the population share the other 50 percent,” said the national coordinator.
Mlambo said this year’s commemorations also focused on the state of Zimbabwe’s public healthcare system, an issue FIA Zimbabwe has been campaigning on since May 2025 under its ‘Fix Our Public Healthcare’ campaign.
“We are aware that about 90 percent of Zimbabweans rely on out-of-pocket expenditure to access healthcare. There is no universal health coverage in our country,” he said.
Mlambo called on Parliament to urgently process the National Health Insurance Bill and make sure it undergoes public consultation before becoming law.
“We are calling on the government to speed up and expedite the National Health Insurance Bill. Firstly, let it come to the people for debate, and then let it become an Act of Parliament so that every Zimbabwean is covered under a national health insurance scheme,” said the activist.
He said such legislation would ease the financial burden faced by ordinary citizens seeking healthcare.
Beyond the Bill, Mlambo urged the government to significantly increase investment in public health infrastructure.
“We are calling for genuine financial investment in refurbishing hospitals, constructing new publicly owned health facilities and making sure healthcare workers receive decent salaries well above the poverty datum line,” he said.
Mlambo expressed solidarity with nurses and doctors demanding better pay and improved working conditions.
“We stand in solidarity with Zimbabwe’s nurses and all healthcare professionals who continue to demand not only better salaries but also better working conditions,” he said, also calling for revenue collected from taxes on fast foods to be ring-fenced specifically for improving healthcare services.
“We urge the government to make sure all revenue collected through the fast-food tax is directed towards improving healthcare access and the quality of healthcare in Zimbabwe.”
FIA Zimbabwe National Committee member, Yolander Millin, said growing public debt and taxation were undermining the delivery of essential public services.
“The taxes citizens pay are not translating into quality public services. Instead, they are largely being used in ways that benefit the wealthiest one percent,” she said.
Millin said Zimbabwe’s public debt, estimated at more than US$23.4 billion, continued to place a heavy burden on ordinary citizens.
“We are in debt distress, yet it is ordinary people who are paying the price through excessive taxation in order to service that debt,” she said.
She said austerity measures implemented since 2017 had reduced spending on health, education and other social services.
“A significant portion of the national budget is going towards debt servicing instead of public services. As a result, we continue to face inadequate healthcare, poor education and deteriorating infrastructure,” Millin noted.
Lunia Centre for Youths founder and executive director, Tjedu Moyo, said young people were marking the Global Day to Fight Inequality under the #FixOurHealthcareSystem campaign because of the challenges they faced in accessing healthcare.
“We have many young people who still struggle to access sexual and reproductive health services. We have young mothers dying because they cannot afford antenatal care or even basic scans and prenatal vitamins,” she said.
Moyo said inadequate healthcare was contributing to preventable maternal health complications, including obstetric fistula.
“There are many cases where women give birth at home or on their way to hospital because they cannot access healthcare services in time,” she said and questioned why the government continued to spend heavily on debt servicing while failing to adequately invest in healthcare.
“When you look at the bigger picture, we are already burdened by debt, yet we still cannot afford basic public services. If you are rich, you can access healthcare, but if you are poor, you risk dying while waiting for basic services such as a scan.”
Moyo said unemployed young people, who often struggle to afford even basic necessities, were among those most affected by the country’s failing public healthcare system and needed a healthcare system that was accessible to all regardless of income.
Leave a Reply