ZIMBABWE has started accessing a global health initiative by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, granting the country access to the company’s portfolio of innovative medicines and vaccines on a not-for-profit basis while supporting local supply chain infrastructure.
The collaboration, under Pfizer’s Accord for a Healthier World, aims to widen access to treatments for cancer, cardiovascular illnesses, and infectious diseases. It will also provide technical support for medicines procurement, supply chain management, regulation, and healthcare workforce development.
Under the initiative, Pfizer will supply its current and future portfolio of patent-protected medicines and vaccines alongside hundreds of off-patent essential medicines.
Health and Child Care Minister, Dr Douglas Mombeshora, said the partnership is aligned with Government efforts to increase the availability of essential medicines in public health facilities from the current 54 per cent to at least 80 per cent.
He noted that medicine shortages remain a major obstacle to building a resilient health system.
“Sometimes, our patients are told that the doctor is available, the pharmacist is available, but unfortunately the medicine is not available! We must close that gap,” Dr Mombeshora said.
The Minister was speaking in Harare at a national workshop to operationalise Zimbabwe’s participation in the initiative, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Government and Pfizer in February.
Launched in May 2022 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the Accord for a Healthier World is a global initiative covering 45 lower-income nations aimed at reducing structural inequalities in healthcare access.
Dr Mombeshora emphasised that the partnership must extend beyond importing drugs to include technical cooperation, knowledge transfer, and institutional capacity building.
“Not-for-profit pricing does not mean medicines are free. Rather, it provides an opportunity to improve affordability within sustainable national financing arrangements. The Accord must complement, not replace, Government’s responsibility to ensure access to essential medicines,” he said.
He added that the Government is concurrently upgrading the procurement, forecasting, warehousing, and distribution capacities of the National Pharmaceutical Company (NatPharm), while reinforcing the regulatory oversight of the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ).
Implementation of the agreement will be channelled through these State institutions and aligned with the country’s Essential Medicines List.
Dr Mombeshora challenged stakeholders to focus on delivery over administrative processes, stating that the success of the initiative would be judged purely by the availability of drugs at clinics and hospitals.
“We have become very good at signing agreements and holding workshops. But, as we all know, a medicine cannot treat a patient simply because its name appears in a Memorandum of Understanding! The real work begins now, and our success must be measured by what reaches the patient,” the Minister said.
Pfizer’s Policy and Public Affairs Director for the Accord, Ms Pauline Irungu, said the collaboration marks the beginning of a long-term partnership tailored to Zimbabwe’s specific health priorities.
“Today is simply not a launch of an initiative, it’s the beginning of a long-term implementation focused collaboration grounded in Zimbabwe’s national health priorities and designed to translate health innovation into meaningful impact for patients,” she said.
Ms Irungu added that the Accord is a sustainable access model rather than a donation programme, enabling long-term planning and national treatment commitments.
“Importantly, the Accord is not just about access to medicines, but it recognises that affordable medicines alone are not enough. Sustainable access also depends on capable healthcare professionals, effective supply chains, appropriate regulatory and procurement pathways and overall strong health systems,” she said.
The two-day workshop is tasked with drafting a Government-owned implementation roadmap, establishing specific milestones, progress indicators, and institutional responsibilities under a Ministry-led governance framework.-hrald
