While the findings show that the CHWs were working within the health care facilities, there were barriers which deterred access of health services for the communities they were serving. There was a mismatch between the demand created by the BCFs and the supply of the services at health centre level. This was not a surprise though, as most CHW Programmes have been created to assist with the limited services at health facilities due to shortages of staff (Perry et al. 2014). As communities fail to access the services which the CHWs would have advocated, the trust of the communities of the CHW tended to wane.
The stakeholders seemed to suggest a weak distribution system of the medicines which were not being accessed by the CHWs in this study. One development partner highlighted that they were procuring medicines meant for primary health care and did not understand why CHWs were not getting the medicines.
Page 70 of 126
This could be embedded in the near collapsed health system as was reported in the health facility assessment conducted in the country (MoHCC, 2010). WHO, (2010) systemic reviews of case studies indicated that Pakistan CHWs faced the same challenges of inconsistent medical supplies. In the same report it was also clear that Ethiopia and Bangladesh had challenges in ensuring that the CHWs had their supplies of malaria drugs and insecticide treated bed nets. In Bangladesh and in Kenya, the issue of medicines and medical supplies was managed through a revolving fund scheme decentralized to community based pharmacies. This was also used as a way to raise income for the CHWs. In this way the community and the CHWs were managing the medicines supply (WHO, 2010). This is a possibility in Zimbabwe but the weak fiscal space of the government makes it a difficult option.
In Senegal, the challenges of supply chain management and logistical support were observed (Blanas et al 2013). The clinics were hesitant to give the CHWs medicines for fear of running out themselves. In Malawi, in a community management of childhood illnesses programme study it was found out that there were no supplies of the necessary medicines in the first four months of the programme. This was mainly because the central medicine store did not have the medicines and the clinics were not able to supply the CHWs (Callaghan-Koru et al. 2013). In the evaluation of Community Systems Strengthening funded by the Global Fund in Zimbabwe, (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2012), it was found that the health facility staff and community members reported that for a long time the VHWs had been operating without adequate supplies largely due to the broader supply chain constraints which had led to the local health facilities operating with inadequate and irregular supplies. In agreement with Global Fund sentiments, Perry et al (2014), indicated that the major reasons why the CHW programmes of the 1980s failed were due to inadequate training, insufficient remuneration, lack of supervision and limited logistical support and supplies.
The Zimbabwe health sector faced a near collapse in the 2007-8 period with medicines stock levels at less than 30% of the national medicines requirements, Ministry of Health and Child Welfare (2012). This left most health facilities with little or no confidence in the supply chain to the extent that there could still be
Page 71 of 126
fear among the clinic staff to release medicines to another facility for fear that they would also run out. Reestablishing confidence in the system will require demonstration over a period of time that medical supplies are running normally without obvious disruptions and assurance from government that medicines will be supplied.
The situation in Zimbabwe is characteristic of a country in post conflict time. In 2014, the country was depending on transition funds from development partners and this had no guarantee that it would continue (Ministry of Health and Child Care, 2016). This created the hesitancy of the clinics to release medicines to the CHWs. While these efforts by development partners were working with the government, the building of trust all the way through to the implementers was still a long way away from being regained. According to Gilson (2006) trust is important in health care systems and more so as health systems are made up of a chain of relationships between the health system itself and the users of the system (Gilson, 2006). The government could invest in the procurement of medicines in a progressive approach which would demonstrate commitment to rebuilding the health system and in the long term gain trust in the health system by the health providers, the CHWs, the patients and the communities in general. This is difficult in a country where almost 80% of medical products are supplied by donors, (UNICEF, 2015). This could remain a challenge until there is enough fiscal space for the government to purchase medicines for the country.
The other option which could be considered is to capitalize on the results based financing which was initiated by the Ministry of Finance and the World Bank in 2012 (Ministry of Health and Child Care, 2013). The Zimbabwe health system operates within a decentralized approach where the district has autonomy on how they can manage resources (NHS, 2009). They are guided by the provincial directorate and follow the national policies and guidelines. The Results Based Funding mechanism operates at district level which allows the district to earn on average USD15,000.00 per quarter. Most of these funds are used to procure medicines for use by the clinics; however they do not include the requirements of the CHWs. Consideration should be made to pool these resources and a portion be used for the medicines which can be used by the
Page 72 of 126
CHWs. In addition to this, the pooled funding mechanisms within the country do include community components but the community component tends to be over shadowed by the clinic and hospital needs. A separated pool dedicated to resources for community systems could ensure that CHWs get the necessary attention.