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Paidamoyo Chipunza Senior Health Reporter
Gambia has sent a delegation to Zimbabwe to learn the result-based financing model being implemented in most public health institutions by the Ministry of Health and Child Care. The 19-member delegation comprising three permanent secretaries, professors, doctors and other experts arrived in the country yesterday for a 10-day knowledge exchange visit on the RBF.

The delegation led by permanent secretary in the Office of the Vice President and Ministry of Women Affairs Ms Nancy Niang, is expected to interface with senior Government officials including those from the Ministry of Finance, visit health institutions from provincial down to rural health centres as well as interacting with communities.

“We are here to learn. We will certainly tell you what we would have learnt at the end of the visit, but give us six months we would be telling you how we would have made it,” said Niang.

She said the health sector was one of Gambia’s top priorities.

Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care Mr Aldrin Musiiwa said the result-based financing was a new approach to address health challenges through incentivising outputs.

Mr Musiiwa said Zimbabwe continued to search for innovative ways of improving its health system.

“We are prepared to share knowledge not only in urban, but also in rural settings as well,” said Mr Musiiwa.

He said the RBF approach started with the World Bank, but has since been nationalised with funding support from different partners including Government of Zimbabwe.

“At the moment we are not yet at a mature stage with RBF, but we are still working on a sustainable medium term framework to fully institutionalise the result-based financing mechanism,” said Mr Musiiwa.

Zimbabwe started implementing the RBF in July 2011 as a pilot project in Marondera and Zvishavane.