Ministry of Health Reports Findings in Equity in Health (Inequality and private health insurance in Zimbabwe: history, politics and performance): Health and Medicine – Equity in Health

2023 APR 10 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Politics, Law & Government Daily -- New research on Health and Medicine - Equity in Health is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating in Lilongwe, Malawi, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Zimbabwe has one of the highest rates of private health insurance (PHI) expenditures as a share of total health expenditures in the world. The perfomamce of PHI, known as Medical Aid Societies in Zimbabwe, requires close monitoring since market failures and weaknesses in public policy and regulation can affect overall health system performance.”

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from the Ministry of Health, “Despite the considerable influence of politics (stakeholder interests) and history (past events) in shaping PHI design and implementation, these factors are frequently sidelined when analyzing PHI in Zimbabwe. This study considers the roles of history and politics in shaping PHI and determining its impact on health system performance in Zimbabwe. We reviewed 50 sources of information using Arksey & O’Malley’s (2005) methodological framework. To frame our analysis, we used a conceptual framework that integrates economic theory with political and historical aspects developed by Thomson et al. (2020) to analyze PHI in diverse contexts. We present a timeline of the history and politics of PHI in Zimbabwe from the 1930s to present. Zimbabwe’s current PHI coverage is segmented along socio-economic lines due to a long history of elitist and exclusionary politics in coverage patterns. While PHI was considered to perform relatively well up to the mid-1990s, the economic crisis of the 2000s eroded trust among insurers, providers, and patients. That culminated in agency problems which severely lessened PHI coverage quality with concurrent deterioration in efficiency and equity-related performance dimensions. The present design and performance of PHI in Zimbabwe is primarily a function of history and politics rather than informed choice. Currently, PHI in Zimbabwe does not meet the evaluative criteria of a well-performing health insurance system.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Therefore, reform efforts to expand PHI coverage or improve PHI performance must explicitly consider the relevant historical, political and economic aspects for successful reformation.”

For more information on this research see: Inequality and private health insurance in Zimbabwe: history, politics and performance. International Journal for Equity in Health, 2023;22(1):54. International Journal for Equity in Health can be contacted at: Bmc, Campus, 4 Crinan St, London N1 9XW, England. (BioMed Central - http://www.biomedcentral.com/; International Journal for Equity in Health - www.equityhealthj.com)

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Alison T. Mhazo, Ministry of Health, Community Health Sciences Unit (CHSU), Private Bag 65, Area 3, Lilongwe, Malawi. Additional authors for this research include Charles C. Maponga and Elias Mossialos.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-023-01868-9. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

The publisher of the International Journal for Equity in Health can be contacted at: Bmc, Campus, 4 Crinan St, London N1 9XW, England.

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