Zimbabwe Article on Health Worker Strikes

Zimbabwe’s nurses have had a bad year. First, they faced a deadly new pandemic without the proper safety equipment; then the strikes and collective bargaining efforts over livable wages failed. At the end of the June-September 80-day industrial action, nurses continued earning salaries as low as US$30 a month. While countries around the world heralded their health workers as heroes for their courageous response to COVID-19, the media in Zimbabwe vilified nurses for abandoning clinics. Nurses from around the country told us that passion may have originally motivated them to join their profession, but passion does not put food on the table. Most sell vegetables and work side hustles to keep their kids in school and a roof over their heads. They hold little faith in the stalled salary negotiations with government, and those with the means have left for better opportunities in Namibia, the U.K. and Australia. Zimbabwe nurses have seen troubled years before, but they say nothing so far compares to the 2020 experience.

Many Men and Women in White Earn Just US$30 a Month

In phone interviews with six government nurses across the country, the women and men in white revealed stories of burnout, poor working conditions and lost hope. Thousands of nurses and doctors went on strike in June for the second time in almost a year to demand wages paid in U.S. dollars and sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) at their workplaces. But the Zimbabwe Nurses Association (ZINA), which represents more than 10,000 nurses, called the industrial action off after 80 days to give the new Minister of Health a chance to present a solution – so far to no avail. Janet*, a midwife from Chipenge District Hospital, said she supported the strike, but the maternity ward in her hospital suffered greatly from the shortage of workers. Often, her ward had just two midwives on duty handling 40-50 patients at a time, including deliveries. Such a large caseload led to increased maternal deaths at the hospital, Janet explained. “The nurses have such low morale,” Janet said. “You can’t be proud of your profession under these circumstances.” 

Nurses interviewed said the real value of their salaries dropped by at least 50 percent over the last few years as the Zimbabwean dollar dropped precipitously and prices soared. Patricia, a supervisory nurse who oversees 28 clinics in Mashonaland East, said her US$30 monthly salary received in the local currency cannot begin to cover her most essential bills, including rent in a one-room apartment ($20), electricity ($7), groceries ($90) and school fees each term for her two children ($575). To supplement their incomes, nurses said they hold side businesses selling chickens, garden vegetables, or other needed goods in their communities – often during their nursing hours. Patricia, who has worked as a nurse for 15 years, buys and sells clothes from Mozambique smuggled illegally across the border. “I end up making about $150 a month, but the side job is a gamble and there is no security in it,” she says.

Arrive on an Empty Stomach, Leave on an Empty Stomach

Zimbabwe’s nurses faced many challenges in the health sector even before 2020, including years of fuel shortages impacting transportation of drugs to hospitals, high rates of inflation, and abhorrent working conditions. But this year has brought with it a new threat in COVID-19 which left hundreds of nurses and other health workers sick or exposed and forced to quarantine. Rose, a nurse in Bulawayo, said her passion for helping others motivated her to join the profession 23 years ago, though she could not recall a worse time in her two decades than now. Relationships developed with her clients, especially women in the maternity ward, keep her coming to work each day. “Even in the worst of times you go in because you might be the only one there to deliver that baby.” Low morale, she said, comes from the low wages, the lack of transport to work, and not having a cup of tea or even a spoonful of sugar available during break times. “You arrive on an empty stomach and you leave on an empty stomach,” Rose said.

“There is No Future for Us Here”

4. Even before the strikes, nurses showed their dissatisfaction by leaving for work in the U.K., Australia and the United States. But leaving requires nurses to save hundreds of dollars or more for the compulsory English test, visas and travel money – an endeavor too expensive for many. Namibia has actively recruited Zimbabwean nurses to help make up for their own health worker shortages. But MOHCC officials have slowed the practice of granting reference letters required to apply to work outside of the country in a move to keep health workers from leaving. Goodwill, a nurse in Harare, said the lack of support makes the nurses’ situation feel hopeless. “Honestly, this is a bad situation and we are exhausted and demoralized. I love my country, but there is just no future for us here,” he said.

*Names of the nurses have been changed.