The impact of promoting stakeholder participation to improve Primary Health Care : A Case of Dangamvura Township Ward 7 & 15, Mutare, Zimbabwe

Abstract

Stakeholder participation is an essential component in Primary Health Care as it involves the influence, investment and interest of people who participate in any capacity. In Zimbabwe, PHC has declined due to the economic conditions, shortage of drugs and skilled health professionals. In the case of Dangamvura Township, there is an increasing influx of number of people who are immigrating to live in the location. As a result of this influx the health facilities are now constrained to adequately facilitate and sustain the PHC needs of the residents. This research aimed at exploring if stakeholder participation can have an impact on improving the conditions of PHC. The main question asked was: What is the impact of promoting stakeholder participation in Primary health care in Dangamvura Township? The current state can be caused by a variety of sources but for this dissertation the focus was on one source of the problem which is Rapid Population Growth (RPG). Primary Health Care in Dangamvura cannot sustain the population growth in the township and therefore causing a lot of problems within the community. The stakeholders within the Primary Health Care, namely the community members, their leaders, doctors and nurses face many challenges in their effort to cope with the poor health conditions. A mixed methods research approach (qualitative and quantitative) guided by the interpretivist or constructivist paradigm was used to conduct the research. The dissertation’s main goal was to explore responses to the local health problems and ways to solve these problems through stakeholder participation. The findings revealed, amongst others, that government programmes that were planned without local people’s knowledge encountered a plethora of challenges which stifled effective and efficient implementation. Even though the community gatherings were held for health programs, the implementation process was rather long and eventually some ideas were just left redundant. One of the recommendations arising from the study was that the government should address social determinants of health related to poverty and poor living conditions. A further recommendation was that health care policies which are currently implemented should be revised to ensure that all Zimbabweans have access to health care. The implementation of such policies should be monitored and evaluated on a regular basis and in this way service delivery and access of patients to health care facilities will be improved.