Zimpapers Logo

Mukudzei Chingwere in PATTAYA, Thailand 

THE United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has commended Zimbabwe for its commitment to fulfilling population management and for ensuring the ever improving sexual and reproductive health services are available in the latest international endorsement for the work that is being done by the Second Republic.

The commendation came from UNFPA deputy executive director Ms Diene Keita after Vice President and Minister of Health and Child Care Dr Constantino Chiwenga, delivered a presentation on the work Zimbabwe is doing in population management and in sexual and reproductive health at the International Conference on Family Planning (ICPF). 

Zimbabwe, said Dr Chiwenga, had adopted a holistic approach to sexual and reproductive health services anchored on President Mnangagwa’s “whole of government, whole of society approach” to problem solving. 

Ms Keita said the UN agency is keen to reinforce its collaboration work with Zimbabwe. Other member states, she noted, also stand to learn and benefit from the lead provided by Zimbabwe.

“The Vice President of Zimbabwe gave an extraordinary statement of Zimbabwe’s commitment,” Ms Keita said in an exclusive interview with The Herald. 

“We are all very grateful, we were very honoured to be in that room and as the UNFPA deputy executive director, I was happy to listen to that and we hope to reinforce our commitment and our joint work in Zimbabwe. 

“We are so proud of Zimbabwe for that, and very grateful,” she said. 

Asked if Zimbabwe’s processes can be the yardstick for other countries to benchmark their strategies, Ms Keita was emphatic. 

“Absolutely, I hope Zimbabwe would continue to do that, and we will support all the processes. 

“I hope to see Zimbabwe at the commission for population and development next year at the highest level possible and we will welcome him (Dr Chiwenga) in New York; I hope to see Mr Vice President. We are so proud and honoured,” she said. 

Her sentiments were further buttressed by UNFPA executive director Dr Natalia Kanem who said Zimbabwe is a “powerhouse in public health” and that the UN agency is pleased with the central role the sexual and reproductive health needs of women and youths have being accorded. 

“From my perspective, Zimbabwe, which I knew very well being a medical doctor myself, has been a powerhouse in public health,” she said. 

“Investing in young people, their education, their job training, their digital ability to participate is going to be very crucial. So, I think some of the measures that Zimbabwe has been taking in terms of strengthening the youth contingent in the country show us that the adolescent girl proposition has to be strengthened.” 

Earlier on, VP Chiwenga had told delegates that Zimbabwe was forging ahead with fulfilling its obligations to international undertakings on population management and sexual reproductive health. 

VP Chiwenga said this is further buttressed by the appointment of national agencies and taskforces to push for the attainment of these goals with President Mnangagwa personally monitoring their work. 

“To show how seriously we take this human rights issue of family planning . . . may I hasten to say, ladies and gentlemen, that the Head of State and President of the Republic of Zimbabwe takes the performance of agencies such as the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council seriously,” said the VP. 

“In this regard, the board chairperson and the chief executive officer sign their annual Performance Contracts in front of His Excellency the President, with quarterly appraisals done, in order to track performance.”

Zimbabwe’s population is still growing, although the birth rate is now close to replacement levels. This is because of other health initiatives that have seen more people living longer, so there are a lot of people born when birth rates were far higher who are still middle-aged. 

Zimbabwe’s birth rates fell as a direct result of the major effort made in the 1980s to ensure all girls had a full secondary education, coupled with access to reproductive health services and good primary health care for babies and toddlers. 

There was no compulsion but UNFPA has noted that educating girls and women and ensuring they have access to the health services they want for themselves and their children means that women are able to make decisions and to act on what they decide.