A Study on Health Education Provision in Zimbabwe: Public Health

This report provides a comprehensive overview of health education in Zimbabwe, focusing on key public health concerns and the efforts to improve health literacy. The study examines various aspects, including child health, infection control, alcohol and drug abuse, and sexual health, highlighting the initiatives undertaken by organizations such as TARSC and CWGH. It explores the challenges faced, such as inadequate resources and gender issues, and emphasizes the need for planned and systematic health education programs to achieve desired outcomes. The report also includes primary research findings from student questionnaires, which reveal the current state of health education in schools and the barriers to effective information dissemination. The conclusion stresses the importance of addressing knowledge gaps and expanding the scope of health education to encompass topics like family responsibility and gender roles.

1Running head: PUBLIC HEALTH
Public Health
Name of student:
Name of university:
Author note:

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A study on provision of Health Education in Zimbabwe: Health literacy in
Zimbabwe
Name of each author:
Name of address of the departments:
Name, address, telephone numbers and email address of the corresponding author
Keywords: study, research, provision, health education, health literacy, Zimbabwe
Declaration of conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest in the
study

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Summary
Health literacy is the extent to which individuals gather, process, understand and
implement basic health information provided to them through different services so that
they are enabled to take part in appropriate healthcare decision making process.
Developing countries like Zimbabwe have been giving attention to the development of
health literacy level of the population. In Zimbabwe, the health concerns that have been
in limelight child health, infection control, alcohol and drug abuse, and sexual abuse.
The concerned public health organisations such as Training and Research Support
Centre (TARSC), Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) and Ministry of
Health and Child Welfare in Zimbabwe are working hard to improve the present
condition rapidly. Primary research indicates that efforts are being given at the
population level so that the issues can be addressed effectively. It is expected that
desired outcomes would be achieved if there is support for all levels.

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Introduction
Public health departments across the globe have been giving increased attention
to poor health outcomes of children and women in the contemporary era. The
significance of health literacy and education among the population has been indicated
in a rich pool of literature. A closer look into the current situation would find that the
masses have a crucial lack of health knowledge in relation to the most noteworthy
concerns such as drugs, maternal health, HIV and child care. The last two decades have
witnessed the emergence of health literacy programs that aimed at improving public
health through the promotion of awareness and increase of health literacy (Grebner
2015).
The launch of regional health literacy programs in East and Southern Africa has
been prominent in the recent past, and Zimbabwe is not left behind in this
advancement. Training and Research Support Centre (TARSC) Zimbabwe has made
significant contributions in the implementation of such programs in the country. The
programs launched aims at addressing the issues faced by the common population
while understanding the disseminated health information (Cwgh.co.zw, 2016).
Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) and TARSC have bene working in
coordination with the the Zimbabwe Association of Church related Hospitals (ZACH)
for promoting heath literacy at different clinics of different districts. At the core of such
attempts lie the aim of reforming national health policies that focus predominantly on
social concepts of health literacy encompassing issues faced in infection prevention,
self-management, increased awareness and shared decision making.

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Areas considered for exploration
According to Lincoln et al. (2006), the priority that health practitioners must
have at present is the encouragement of health literacy for adults and children in an
appropriate manner so that they are better able to understand and implement the
information provided to them. The present review paper would focus on the valuable
topic of health education in Zimbabwe while drawing on concepts embedded in heath
education for child health, infection control, alcohol and drug abuse, and sexual abuse.
Child health
Recent studies have time and again highlighted that children health needs to be
given immediate attention for improving heath outcomes of the population in general. It
is to be noted that a child’s health is reliant on the background and education of the
parents. The effectiveness of childcare significantly depends on the healthcare
information and knowledge upheld by the mother. The most important healthcare topic
for child care is probably breast feeding, and it has been noted that lack of sufficient
knowledge about breastfeeding techniques complex mothers to stop breasting feeding
their child at a crucial stage. The arising complication is malnutrition in children at an
early stage and the related health complications. In this respect, Zimbabwe health
department together with UNICEF had come forward to launch breastfeeding week for
educating mothers about breast feeding. The program had been a noteworthy one since
it wanted to promote the significance of breast feeding among mothers. Considerable
volume of research has pinpointed the recent trend of working mothers to leave behind
their children for going for professional commitments, thereby hampering the process
of regular breast feeding. In addition, women face challenges in finding a safe and

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clean environment whereby they can breast feed their child in case they are been taken
to the workplace with their mothers (Sorsdahl et al. 2012).
Africa has been marked by higher rates of chronic child malnutrition
(Unicef.org 2016). Zimbabwe, Uganda and Tanzania have been pointed out to have
most of the women population who lack illness management information. In this
regard, Zimbabwe has launched major education programs in the last five years that
have been continually emphasising on bringing improvements in the health condition of
child and mother alike. Lincoln et al. (2006) had pointed out that TARSC works in
association with the Training and Research Support Centre (TARSC) to provide
training to health workers and address issues faced by this population such as the
insuffieicnt scope of growth, poor working environment and remuneration.
Infection control
As an important element of the healthcare infrastructure, infection control aims
to reduce rates of hospital-acquired infection. It is a prototypical aspect, drawing the
attention of healthcare professionals across the globe (Pleasant 2012). Though
Zimbabwe is developing its healthcare sector, there is still much to be done when it
comes to spreading awareness about infection control. Increased health education
related to infection control promises to ensure that the vulnerable population is
protected from infectious agents and they are provided with optimal quality care. In
general, infections are aa major cause of disability and lead to increased healthcare
burden.
In this respect, the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare in Zimbabwe is taking
more interest and showing increased commitment to enhancing the health literacy

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levels. The primary action is increasing support systems provided for health promotion.
The 2009 Assessment Survey of Primary Healthcare in Zimbabwe pointed out that
information plays have a basic role in disease prevention. The Ministry is thus
emphasising on taking planned initiatives that address the concern of lack of
knowledge (Bodie and Dutta 2008). The CWGH in Zimbabwe has targeted the Village
Health Workers including community-based health workers as well as poor individuals
irrespective of gender and age (Pleasant 2012). Health care organisations are using
infection control measures such as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as
recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Explicit interventions are
being adopted, like aseptic techniques, isolation precautions, hand hygiene, waste
management, cleaning and disinfection, sterilization, antibiotic use protocol, and
immunization for reducing chances of infection (Paasche-Orlow et al. 2009).
Alcohol and drug abuse
As opined by Sommer et al. (2017) the population that has been most effected
by alcohol and drug abuse is the adolescents and children. This group of the population
have been found to indulge in activities related to drug and alcohol consumption due to
curiosity. In addition, they have a keenness to to experiment with these substances,
unaware of the adverse impacts they bring along. High school students and college
goers often use illicit drugs such as marijuana. Even though this cuture is more
prominent in America, countries like Africa is not behind as the rate of yound adults
consuming drug and alcohol is increasing at an alarming rate. It is to be highlighted that
the young population has a lack of knowledge about the adverse health impacts drug
and alcohol consumption has, such as depression, impairment of the nervous system,
different form of cancer and loss of functionality.

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The Safe and Drug Free Programs have been put into practice for addressing the
issue and improving the health awareness level among this population. Educational
institutes and schools are the main settings wherein sessions are being carried out to
disseminate health information. The current literacy programmes focus on theoretical
models, skills training methods, and particular population cohort for achieving optimal
success rates. The education and knowledge sharing rests on psychological theories of
human behaviour which is a key approach in the modern healthcare system (London
and Schneider 2012).
Sexual health
Sexual violence has been referred to as ‘Gender-Based Violence’ (GBV) and
denotes the violence arising from the normative role expectations the societies upheld.
Such violence results from the unequal power relationships between the two genders in
a social context. Though both the gender has been subjected to victims of social
violence, it has been the women and girl population, in this patriarchial society, that has
been facing violence and terror, leaving a deep impact on their lives. Gender bias has
been pinpointed to be the primary cause of violence and abuse has been both mental
and physical with almost equal impacts on the victims. In this context, it is to be
highlighted that marital violence and issues are adjoined with sexual relationships, and
it is noteworthy that individuals often have low levels of knowledge in terms of sexual
health (Pleasant 2011).
Health information and literacy level in relation to GBV reflect on the decision
making process and respective choices of the individuals who are commonly subjected
to such violence. All members of the community have rights to optimal health

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information across their lifespan, and the most crucial aspect is perhaps sexual and
reproductive health (SRH) information, services relevant to which are much in demand.
The Ministry of Health and Child Welfare in Zimbabwe have taken up initiatives to
bring a sharp decline in the prevalence rate of HIV. This is evident from the results of
translation of HIV related knowledge into appropriate practice (Health-
genderviolence.org, 2016). In addition, the Community Working Group on Health
(CWGH) has shown remarkable efforts to achieve enhancement of participation of
individuals in health promotion. The group has been acting as a network of
organisations working for the community within Zimbabwe (Papen, 2009).
Discussion
Coming to the end of the descriptive note of the importance of the health
literacy in Zimbabwe and the current status of health promotion activities, it can be
stated that there is a need of primary research to understand the perceptions, beliefs,
values and feelings of the individuals of the community in relation to their health
literacy levels. Keeping this in mind a questionnaire was circulated among a different
group of students in reputed educational institutes and schools in Zimbabwe. Open-
ended questionnaire was used so the respondents could give information in relation to
their experience.
The results from the study highlighted that most of the schools in the concerned
area of Zimbabwe had introduced programs for increasing health awareness. The topics
that have been covered by such programs include reproductive anatomy, HIV/ AIDs,
personal hygiene, adolescent sexuality and physical fitness. The mostly used form of

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the resource is a secondary source, information from which are circulated among
students. The extent of information imparted depends on the availability of resources.
Health educators, primarily the school teachers, offering training and imparting
education had sufficient knowledge about the areas covered in the sessions. Teachers
had appropriate education and training from reputed universities and took interest in
innovation and introduction of novice aspects into health education. However, a
number of challenges emerged as barriers to health education impartment, such as
gender issues, the absence of adequate funding, lack of adequate resources and
domestic violence.
The collation of primary and secondary data led to the conclusion that low level
of appropriate health behaviours is due to lack of knowledge of self-health care. While
some achievement has been gained in addressing issues such as alcohol consumption,
drug abuse, child care and motherhood, discussion of other topics such as family
responsibility and gender roles need further attention. It has been evident from the
previous findings that health education needs to be disseminated in a planned and
systematic manner, without which the desired outcomes would not be gained.
Informing the student population about key health topics would be a significant step in
this regard (Batterham et al. 2016). For adding more information into the existing
research on health literacy in Zimbabwe, a meticulous study is warranted that would
focus on particular levels of health knowledge among the population instead of the
population as a whole (Berkman et al. 2011).

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Conclusion
The present research, encompassing both literature review and primary study, has given
valuable insights into the topic of health literacy and health education in Zimbabwe.
The amalgamation of primary and secondary research highlight the tremendous need
for health education in developing countries such as Zimbabwe. The underpinning
concept integrated into poor health outcomes of the population is that absence of
knowledge has a negative impact on service delivery. The health literacy and health
awareness campaigns and programs in the country are doing fairly well even though
certain drawbacks prevailing in this respect. With optimal support from the government
in the form of funding and provision for resources, it is to be expected that Zimbabwe
would take health literacy to the next level very soon.

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