The Impact of Structural Adjustment Programmes on the Public Health Sector: The Case of Zimbabwe

Structural Adjustment Programmes of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) were implemented as part of aid conditionality in Africa and Latin America since the 1980s. There is a wide range of literature critical of SAPs. Several debates have focused on whether the failure of SAPs was a result of the inherent weaknesses of the IMF/ WB sponsored structural adjustment or whether it was caused by structural failures of policy implementation within the African continent. The author uses the Zimbabwean case to analyze the impact of SAPs on social service sectors, in particular the public health sector.

Tsitsi Muvunzi is currently a senior lecturer at the Centre for Development Studies in Zimbabwe, and a part time lecturer at the Zimbabwe Open University. She holds a master's degree in Public Administration (University of Zimbabwe), a master's degree in International Studies (Ewha Womans University, South Korea), and a BSc honours degree in Politics and Administration (Zimbabwe). She worked for Zimbabwe's public sector, and has served in different positions under the Ministry of Youth and the Ministry of Women Affairs from 2003 to 2013.