Story by Abigirl Tembo, Health Editor
HARARE – ZIMBABWE’S healthcare system is set for a major transformation as the implementation of the National Pharmaceutical Strategy gathers momentum.
With a six-month supply of life-saving antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) secured and a growing push for local drug manufacturing, NatPharm, the country’s central medical stores, is leading the charge to build a self-sustaining pharmaceutical ecosystem.
In an interview with ZBC News, NatPharm Managing Director, Mr Newman Madzikwa, confirmed that Zimbabwe continues to receive ARVs sufficient to last until the end of the year, ensuring uninterrupted treatment for people living with HIV.
“We have received some, and we continue to receive ARVs that will take us right up to the end of the year, which is almost six months’ worth of stock. So as we receive the commodities, we are also receiving orders from health facilities that we fill in and ensure that we deliver these commodities.
“For central hospitals and provincial hospitals, we deliver on demand, while for clinics we have a programme that ensures that each and every facility is visited once a quarter with the deliveries that they require for products up to four or five months of supply.
“The reason why we are having this first is to manage the expiry dates. As you are aware, most of our medications have expiry dates. That is, we receive them with a shelf life of almost 18 months. So we want to manage not only the shelf life but also the resources. If we buy medicines for 12 months, it basically means that we are keeping money longer in stock rather than money being used for other things,” he said.
Zimbabwe is also actively building resilience by deepening local pharmaceutical capacity. At the heart of this is the identification of 49 priority medicines or molecules targeted for local production.
“We have entered into various MOUs, including tripartite agreements with local manufacturers and international partners. The aim is to increase the availability of essential medicines and facilitate technology transfer for local production. In the medium to long term, NatPharm itself intends to venture into manufacturing,” Mr Madzikwa added.
Among the high-priority imports are injectables and theatre-use medications such as morphine, which are currently not produced in Zimbabwe.
Most local firms focus on solid-dose oral medicines, leaving a gap in critical care drugs.
Zimbabwe’s National Pharmaceutical Strategy aims to reduce import reliance and boost local medicine production.
The goal of the National Pharmaceutical Strategy is to increase local supply from 10% to 30% of market demand within 18 months.
To achieve this, NatPharm is forming partnerships with local manufacturers and global partners, piloting new products, and scaling up production.
This strategy is key to Vision 2030, the government’s plan for an upper-middle-income economy, and will help build a more resilient healthcare sector.
