The three-year Pandemic Fund project will run from 2026 to 2028, supported by $49 million in partner co-financing and $91.8 million in government co-investment.
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will implement the project with government ministries and other partners.
Health and Child Care Minister Dr Douglas Mombeshora said protecting public health was essential to Zimbabwe’s development plans. “Pandemic preparedness requires a whole-of-government and whole-of-society effort through the One Health approach,” Mombeshora said.
The project will expand community, environmental and cross-border disease surveillance using digital technology, automated weather stations, social listening and public feedback.
Five public-health emergency operations centres will be established to improve coordination.
Twenty-five laboratories, comprising five national and 20 subnational facilities, will be upgraded to strengthen rapid diagnostics, antimicrobial-resistance testing, genomic sequencing and biosafety.
More than 10 000 professionals will receive training in disease surveillance, emergency preparedness, risk communication and community engagement.
Annual simulation exercises and health-emergency reviews will test readiness, while risk assessments at ports of entry will be strengthened.
Community monitoring, multilingual awareness campaigns and digital learning platforms are expected to reach up to 2 million people. “The first signs of an outbreak are often detected not in a laboratory, but in a community,” UNICEF Zimbabwe Representative Etona Ekole said.
AfDB Country Manager for Zimbabwe Eyerusalem Fasika said the grant represented “a decisive shift from reactive containment to proactive protection”.
Zimbabwe is also participating in a separate $35.8 million Southern African regional programme implemented by the World Health Organisation.
The regional initiative involves eight countries and focuses on climate-sensitive early-warning systems, stronger laboratories, workforce capacity and cross-border coordination.
FAO Subregional Coordinator for Southern Africa Dr Patrice Talla said many pathogens with pandemic potential emerged where people, animals and the environment interacted. “This investment will strengthen Zimbabwe’s capacity to detect, prevent and respond to threats where they arise,” Talla said.
–AfDB/ChannelAfrica–
