{"id":964063,"date":"2026-07-28T06:30:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T06:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/964063\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T06:30:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T06:30:17","slug":"how-telehealth-is-helping-close-the-healthcare-gap-in-rural-zimbabwe-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/964063\/","title":{"rendered":"How telehealth is helping close the healthcare gap in rural Zimbabwe | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nyazura, Zimbabwe \u2013<\/strong> Bright fluorescent lights reflect off polished floors as Anymore Kadzunge returns for a routine check-up at a telehealth centre that helped diagnose the illness she had struggled with for months.<\/p>\n

The 38-year-old farmer sits quietly as a nurse wraps a blood pressure cuff around her arm. Moments later, the machine beeps with the reading.<\/p>\n

Only months earlier, Kadzunge had been struggling to work her fields or prepare meals for her family. She had spent three months experiencing chest pains and dizziness before walking 14km (8.7 miles) from her village of Chimbondi after a friend told her about the facility.<\/p>\n

A nurse found her blood pressure was elevated and connected her with a doctor through a video consultation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe nurse tested my blood pressure, but it was extremely high,\u201d Kadzunge told Al Jazeera. \u201cI then spoke to a doctor through a video call.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was diagnosed with hypertension and prescribed medication, which she continues to take daily. Within days, her condition improved.<\/p>\n

Bringing doctors closer<\/p>\n

Kadzunge\u2019s experience comes as efforts grow to bring doctors closer to rural communities in Zimbabwe, where years of economic hardship have left the public health system facing shortages of medicines, equipment and medical workers.<\/p>\n

The programme was launched in 2024 by ZimSmart Villages, a Zimbabwean technology and innovation organisation, in partnership with NetOne, the country\u2019s state-owned telecommunications company, and Zimbabwe Posts (Zimpost), the state-owned postal and courier service.<\/p>\n

\"AA health worker assisting patients in a telehealth centre in Nyazura [Farai Shawn Matiashe\/Al Jazeera]<\/p>\n

The programme connects patients in remote communities with healthcare professionals providing digital consultations, reducing the need for long journeys to see a doctor.<\/p>\n

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Zimbabwe had 1.7 doctors for every 10,000 people in 2022, compared with Africa\u2019s average of 2.6.<\/p>\n

For many rural residents, seeing a doctor in person requires expensive travel. Without the Nyazura centre, Kadzunge would have needed to travel 22km (13.7 miles) to Rusape, a town in eastern Zimbabwe, or 70km (43 miles) to Mutare, the capital of Manicaland province.<\/p>\n

Ambulances are limited in many rural areas, forcing some families to transport sick relatives to health facilities using ox-drawn scotch carts, a common form of rural transport.<\/p>\n

At the Nyazura centre, registered nurse Noreen Chimanya checks patients\u2019 vital signs, including blood pressure, blood sugar levels and temperature, before arranging video consultations with doctors. She also provides prescribed treatment and refers serious cases to hospitals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we opened in May 2024, telemedicine was something completely new in this community,\u201d Chimanya told Al Jazeera. \u201cPeople were used to speaking to doctors in person and being physically examined.\u201d<\/p>\n

Building trust required months of community outreach. Chimanya travelled to surrounding villages explaining how virtual consultations worked.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey like it here because there are no queues,\u201d she said. \u201cAt public health facilities, people spend hours waiting to be seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The centre uses Starlink, the satellite internet service operated by United States aerospace company SpaceX, and a backup lithium battery to keep consultations running during frequent power cuts.<\/p>\n

A lifeline for rural patients<\/p>\n

According to ZimSmart Villages, by 2026 the organisation had established 28 telehealth centres across seven of Zimbabwe\u2019s 10 provinces and conducted more than 28,000 virtual consultations, including about 25,000 diagnostic tests.<\/p>\n

Tawanda Njerere, the organisation\u2019s cofounder and chief operations officer, told Al Jazeera the programme was designed to create digital health access points within existing post office infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than requiring rural patients to travel 50km or more to urban health facilities, the programme establishes digital health access points embedded within existing post office infrastructure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The centres charge between $2 and $10 for consultations, compared with $15 to $20 at many private clinics.<\/p>\n

For some rural households, that difference can determine whether they seek treatment or wait.<\/p>\n

For Proud Chimene, a vendor from nearby Chimene village, it made seeking treatment possible.<\/p>\n

In July 2024, after experiencing unexplained weight loss, extreme thirst and persistent fatigue, she visited the Nyazura centre.<\/p>\n

\"ProudProud Chimene in a telehealth centre in Nyazura [Farai Shawn Matiashe\/Al Jazeera]<\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation had deteriorated,\u201d Chimene told Al Jazeera. \u201cThe nurse tested my blood glucose level and it was high. After speaking to the doctor through a video call, they put me on an intravenous drip for several hours. He also prescribed medicine that I take twice a day.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was diagnosed with diabetes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it was not for this nearby telehealth centre providing access to a doctor at affordable fees, I would probably not have sought treatment at all,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Njerere said the programme focuses on detecting illnesses earlier by bringing screening services closer to communities. Digital health records and follow-up consultations also help patients manage chronic conditions such as hypertension and diabetes.<\/p>\n

The centres have also diagnosed sexually transmitted infections and referred patients needing specialised care.<\/p>\n

Challenges remain<\/p>\n

Despite its growth, telehealth cannot replace all the services provided by traditional healthcare facilities.<\/p>\n

Specialist services, particularly for eye health, mental health and complex chronic disease management, remain limited across Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe programme addresses this through partnerships with established eye-care providers and specialist networks, but specialist capacity remains a systemic constraint,\u201d Njerere said.<\/p>\n

\"AA platform used by patients to consult doctors online in Nyazura [Farai Shawn Matiashe\/Al Jazeera]<\/p>\n

In some rural communities, unfamiliarity with virtual consultations means building trust remains an ongoing challenge.<\/p>\n

For Kadzunge, the measure of success is simple: she can return to the fields and daily routines that illness had taken away.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am healthy again,\u201d she said. \u201cNow I can go to the farm without scaring my family.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nyazura, Zimbabwe \u2013 Bright fluorescent lights reflect off polished floors as Anymore Kadzunge returns for a routine check-up…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":964064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[35],"tags":[7779,210,1141,1142,50,67,132,68,2238],"class_list":["post-964063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-africa","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-zimbabwe"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116996201677518224","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=964063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/964064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=964063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=964063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=964063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}