PHM Position Paper on Health in Zimbabwe, posted 14 June 2008. Includes more detailed analysis of the socio-economic background; the main current issues; the role of the state and recommendations from the Community Working Group on Health.

1. Socio-economic background

At Independence in 1980, Zimbabwe inherited some of the worst rural-urban disparities in the provision of social services. In the 1980s, the new national government made commendable progress in redressing these disparities. In healthcare delivery, these efforts

The PHM is strongly supporting a letter opposing the policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that continues to have a harmful role in hindering countries' efforts to increase investments in life-saving health, education, HIV/AIDS and other social programs.

Dear Managing Director,

In a forum on The Global Crisis and People’s Health, held in Balay Kalinaw at the University of the Philippines in Diliman last July 31, health activists pointed out that further militarization pose the greatest threat to health and peace.

The month of July ended with news on climate change, war, violence, militarization and emergence of new forms of diseases.

The World Health Organisation system was shaken up during the World Health Assembly in the past week over the way that the Secretariat has been dealing with the issue of intellectual property and its link to access to medicines.

Widespread and sharp criticisms from some member states as well as health-related NGOs were made on several aspects of how senior officials of the WHO have either recently neglected the traditional priority given by the WHO to public health over patents on drugs, and how the WHO system has operated in a biased way to the detriment of developing countries.

Patents have been taken on the avian influenza virus, and WHO Collaborating Centres have also entered into Material Transfer Agreements with vaccine manufacturers. This was admitted by the World Health Organisation's most senior official dealing with avian flu, in response to questions during a WHO technical briefing session on avian influenza at the World Health Assembly.

We the civil society organizations listed below call on member states of the World Health Assembly (WHA) as well as the WHO Secretariat to establish a fair and transparent mechanism and framework to govern the sharing of virus samples as well as the equitable distribution of vaccines and medical products relating to the avian influenza.