Government Expands Health Workforce With 5,000 Recruits; Plans 32,000 Jobs by 2030

Zimbabwe recruits over 5,000 health workers in 2025 and plans to create 32,000 public sector health jobs by 2030 to rebuild and sustain the public health system (image source)

HARARE — The Government has stepped up efforts to stabilise and rebuild Zimbabwe’s public health system, recruiting more than 5,000 health workers in 2025 and setting out plans to double the national health workforce by 2030, creating at least 32,000 public sector jobs. Authorities say the expansion is aimed at reducing waiting times at public health institutions and safeguarding access to care as international donor funding continues to decline.

Health and Child Care Permanent Secretary Dr Aspect Maunganidze said the recruitment drive signals a strategic shift towards a resilient and self-sustaining health system anchored on domestic financing. He said Government is planning for long-term sustainability at a time when external funding streams are shrinking, making it necessary to strengthen locally driven solutions.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has led reforms targeting long-standing service delivery challenges, including the rehabilitation of infrastructure, re-equipping hospitals with modern machinery and improving conditions of service for health workers. In 2025, the President conducted unannounced visits to Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, Sally Mugabe Hospital and the National Pharmaceutical Company to assess operational challenges and progress on reforms.

Treasury support has been central to workforce expansion. Dr Maunganidze said that in 2025 alone, 5,284 posts across various cadres — including nurses, pharmacists and doctors — were availed. By 2030, Government aims to double the health workforce, creating at least 32,000 direct jobs and stimulating more than 100,000 indirect jobs across pharmaceuticals, transport, equipment maintenance and catering.

Zimbabwe’s health sector has for years battled acute staffing shortages driven largely by outward migration. Nearly 20 percent of doctors trained locally are working abroad, while about 7,550 nurses — roughly 35 percent of the nursing workforce — are employed outside the country. A 2022 Health Labour Market Analysis showed Zimbabwe has just 22 health workers per 10,000 people, far below the global benchmark of 44.

To reverse the trend, Government signed the Human Resources for Health Investment Compact in October 2024. The strategy prioritises decentralised nurse training to improve retention, with more than five new training schools established and recruitment devolved to provinces. Annual training output is expected to increase from 3,334 in 2022 to at least 7,000 by 2030. Authorities are also professionalising community health workers and mobilising domestic resources to sustain HIV, TB and malaria programmes, while partnerships with the private sector are strengthening medicine supply chains.

Infrastructure development is progressing alongside workforce expansion. Major works under the Presidential Hospital Renovation Scheme began in 2025, including upgrades at Parirenyatwa School of Nursing, Mbuya Nehanda Maternity Hospital and Mpilo Central Hospital. New community health centres have been commissioned in Mataga, Runyararo, Cowdray Park and Stone Ridge, with additional facilities planned for Manhize, Chivi, Zaka and Bulilima.

Looking ahead, district hospitals for Harare and Bulawayo metropolitan provinces are scheduled for construction between late 2026 and 2027. Dr Maunganidze said the reforms are now moving beyond policy commitments to visible change on the ground. As Zimbabwe advances towards Vision 2030, he said, the rebuilding of the public health system is taking shape facility by facility and community by community.