Zimbabwe Health Training Support (ZHTS) is a voluntary UK based diaspora organisation, set up in April 2006 by a group of health professionals concerned about health training in Zimbabwe.

(UK Registered Charity No; 1133400)

The group supports health professional training and continuing education in Zimbabwe through leveraging the commitment and skills of UK based Zimbabwe diaspora as well as mobilising a wider support base within the UK, including faciliating the establishment of sustainable institutional links between Zimbabwe, the UK and elsewhere.

While consisting predominantly of Zimbabweans, the ZHTS membership also includes those who have worked in Zimbabwe and are concerned about the future of the health system. ZHTS maintains a multidisciplinary focus, aiming to support community health workers, nurses, dentists, physiotherapists, radiographers, doctors, pharmacists and any other health care workers.

We have strong links with the Universities in Zimbabwe as well as the Zimbabwe Association of Church Hospitals (ZACH) and the Training and Research Support Centre (TARSC). Our aim is to respond to specific statements of need by such organisations.

Project rationale

Over the past 10 years the quality of Zimbabwe public health services and training system has steadily deteriorated beyond recognition from previous levels. The system is now characterised by: chronic and severe shortages of drugs and essential supplies and equipment; staff shortages due to the loss of skilled personnel to other countries (mostly to the UK and to the benefit of the NHS); and de-skilling, poor salaries, and low morale of those struggling to support the system. Undergraduate and post graduate health professional training is seriously weakened and is contributing to a further deterioration in the quality of the health services and will have impacts well into the future. ZHTS aims to provide support that will benefit the system in the short as well as longer term.

A copy of the ZHTS Constitution can be found here.