Zimbabwe’s Maternal Mortality Crisis: A Deadly Consequence of ZANU PF’s Failed Leadership
Zimbabwe is in the grip of a devastating maternal health crisis, a direct result of decades of ZANU PF misrule, corruption, and failed governance. The country’s maternal mortality rate stands at a shocking 960 deaths per 100,000 live births—three times the global average and nearly double that of Sub-Saharan Africa. In January 2025 alone, 300 infants and 54 women perished during excruciating childbirths, a grim testament to the state of the nation’s collapsing healthcare system.
Women in Zimbabwe are dying not because of rare medical complications but because of preventable and treatable conditions like pregnancy-induced hypertension, postpartum hemorrhage, puerperal sepsis, malaria, and obstructed labor. HIV and AIDS-related conditions further exacerbate the crisis, accounting for 25% of all maternal deaths. Yet, despite these well-known causes, the government continues to ignore the urgent need for a functional healthcare system, instead choosing to siphon public funds for personal enrichment and political patronage.
One of the most alarming aspects of this crisis is the lack of access to skilled care during childbirth. Only 66% of births are attended by trained health professionals, while 13% are left in the hands of untrained relatives or traditional birth attendants. Even more shocking, 3% of births are completely unassisted—a death sentence for both mother and child in the event of complications. These statistics paint a harrowing picture of a nation where giving birth has become a life-threatening gamble.
The government, in its usual reactionary and piecemeal approach, has turned to international donors to salvage the situation by revitalizing Maternity Waiting Homes (MWHs). These facilities, designed to provide accommodation for high-risk pregnant women near health centers, are supposed to reduce maternal and neonatal deaths by increasing access to skilled care. However, just like every other state-run initiative, these programs are riddled with inefficiencies, underfunding, and mismanagement.
The collapse of Zimbabwe’s healthcare system is not due to a lack of resources but rather the direct result of ZANU PF’s systemic corruption, leadership incompetence, and misplaced priorities. The same regime that cannot afford to equip hospitals or pay nurses a living wage somehow finds millions to purchase luxury vehicles for ministers, fund extravagant political campaigns, and sustain a bloated military loyal to the ruling elite.
A government that allows mothers and babies to die at such an alarming rate while prioritizing personal wealth and power is one that has long lost its legitimacy. This is not just a health crisis; it is a moral and political failure of ZANU PF’s decades-long dictatorship. No mother should have to die bringing life into this world because of a broken system. No child should be denied the right to take their first breath because of political greed and negligence.
Zimbabweans must recognize that real change will never come from those who have led the country to ruin. The solution lies in dismantling the corrupt system that has brought the nation to its knees. As long as ZANU PF remains in power, maternal deaths, collapsing hospitals, and mass suffering will continue. The time to fight for a new Zimbabwe is now—one where healthcare is a right, not a privilege for the elite, and where no woman has to die giving birth because of a government that values power over human life.
