How telehealth is helping close the healthcare gap in rural Zimbabwe

By Farai Shawn Matiashe l Al Jazeera Nyazura, Zimbabwe – 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. 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.

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. A nurse found her blood pressure was elevated and connected her with a doctor through a video consultation.

“The nurse tested my blood pressure, but it was extremely high,” Kadzunge told Al Jazeera. “I then spoke to a doctor through a video call.” She was diagnosed with hypertension and prescribed medication, which she continues to take daily. Within days, her condition improved.

Bringing doctors closer Kadzunge’s 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. The programme was launched in 2024 by ZimSmart Villages, a Zimbabwean technology and innovation organisation, in partnership with NetOne, the country’s state-owned telecommunications company, and Zimbabwe Posts (Zimpost), the state-owned postal and courier service. The programme connects patients in remote communities with healthcare professionals providing digital consultations, reducing the need for long journeys to see a doctor.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Zimbabwe had 1.7 doctors for every 10,000 people in 2022, compared with Africa’s average of 2.6. 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.

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. At the Nyazura centre, registered nurse Noreen Chimanya checks …