Media urged to keep domestic resource mobilisation in the spotlight ahead of national budget presentation

By Anna Miti

HARARE — As the government prepares the 2027 National Budget, the media has been urged to keep domestic resource mobilisation for health in the spotlight, with advocates warning that Zimbabwe has a narrowing window to lock in its own financing before donor support shrinks further.

The call was made at a media advocacy dialogue held in Harare this week by the Zimbabwe Civil Liberties and Drug Network (ZCLDN). Speaking at the dialogue, Mr Knowledge Mupembe, Programmes Manager at ZCLDN, said the global pool of HIV funding is shrinking, and with little or no cushion left over from previous funding cycles, it is now imperative for Zimbabwe to secure domestic financing for its HIV response before the 2027 Budget is finalised in late November.

He noted that the Global Fund's Eighth Replenishment (GC8) fell roughly $5–6 billion short of its $18 billion target, raising just over $11 billion, and that Zimbabwe's own HIV allocation has already declined — from $437 million to $349 million between the Seventh and Eighth Replenishment cycles. Domestic resource mobilisation, he said, is not optional as access to 15% of the GC8 allocation is now conditional on Zimbabwe meeting its own domestic co-financing commitments.

Mupembe pointed to mechanisms Zimbabwe already has in place. The AIDS Levy, a 3% tax on individual income and on corporate and trust profits, collected since 2000, raises an estimated $35–40 million a year for the National AIDS Council. A newer 3% mining levy, introduced under the 2024 Finance Act and designated by the Finance Ministry as a "Corporate Social Responsibility levy," is also now active, though how its proceeds are being used remains an open question. Other options on the table, he said, include a proposed levy on diaspora remittances and expanded public-private partnerships modelled on programmes in Botswana, South Africa and Lesotho.

Mr Wilson Box, Executive Director of ZCLDN, said that while Zimbabwe has rolled out the new HIV prevention option Lenacapavir (LEN), there is a need to ensure that other key and vulnerable populations, such as people who use drugs, are not left behind. He added that domestic resource mobilisation, rather than continued dependence on donors, could be key to their inclusion.

Zimbabwe began rolling out LEN earlier this year as part of efforts to expand HIV prevention options, with the initial programme targeting priority populations at substantial risk of HIV infection, including adolescent girls and young women, sex workers and pregnant women, among others.

LEN is the first twice-yearly injectable PrEP product offering a highly effective, long-acting alternative to daily oral pills and other shorter-acting options. With just two doses a year, it is considered a transformative step forward in protecting people at risk of HIV, particularly those who face challenges with daily adherence, stigma, or access to healthcare.

"Using our own resources in HIV prevention helps us to have our own frameworks and set our own priorities, not those set by donors," Box said.

He added that people who use and inject drugs face multiple, overlapping vulnerabilities that place them at heightened risk of HIV infection, and that as the LEN programme expands, this population should be treated as a priority. The Zimbabwe National HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan already identifies people who use drugs as a key population, he noted, and LEN could be especially advantageous for them, since it removes the adherence challenges posed by daily oral pills.

Zimbabwe's national budget has been tabled in late November for at least the past three years running. That gives advocates a window period of roughly four months between the government stating its budget priorities and those priorities being fixed into law.

Within that cycle, two moments were flagged as points where civil society and the media have real access: the Budget Strategy Paper (BSP) consultation window, which sets out government priorities before they harden into the Budget Statement, and Parliament's Budget Office, a standing, non-date-bound body that provides independent technical analysis and monitors under Section 299 of the Constitution whether budgeted commitments are actually disbursed.

Journalists at the dialogue were encouraged to use both entry points, and to track not just whether domestic financing commitments are made in the 2027 Budget Statement, but whether they are ultimately translated into disbursed funding reaching key and vulnerable populations.

Domestic resource mobilization Zimbabwe health budget