Telehealth bridges healthcare gap in rural Zimbabwe

Nyazura, Zimbabwe – Bright fluorescent lights shine on polished tiled floors as Anymore Kadzunge returns to the telehealth centre for a routine check-up – the facility that helped diagnose the illness she battled for months.

The 38-year-old farmer sits still as a nurse wraps a blood pressure cuff around her arm. Seconds later, the machine beeps with the reading.

Just months ago, Kadzunge struggled even to work in the fields or cook meals for her family. She suffered chest pains and dizziness for three months before walking 14km from Chimbondi village to the centre after a friend tipped her off. A nurse checked her and found her blood pressure elevated, connecting her with a doctor via video consultation.

“The nurse took my blood pressure, but it was extremely high,” Kadzunge told Al Jazeera. “Then I spoke to a doctor through a video call.”

She was diagnosed with hypertension and prescribed medication that she takes daily. Within days, her condition improved.

Bringing doctors closer

Kadzunge’s experience comes amid efforts to bring doctors closer to rural communities in Zimbabwe, where a prolonged economic crisis has left the public health system short of medicines, equipment and health workers.

The programme was launched in 2024 by ZimSmart Villages, a Zimbabwean technology and innovation organisation, in partnership with NetOne – a state-owned telecom company – and Zimbabwe Posts (Zimpost), the national postal service.

It connects patients in remote areas with healthcare workers through digital consultations, reducing the need for long-distance travel to see a doctor.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2022 Zimbabwe had 1.7 doctors per 10,000 people, compared to the African average of 2.6.

Many rural residents must pay for costly trips to see a doctor. Without the Nyazura centre, Kadzunge would have had to travel 22km to Rusape – a town in eastern Zimbabwe – or 70km to Mutare, the capital of Manicaland province. Ambulances are scarce in many rural areas, forcing some families to use ox-drawn carts – a common form of transport – to take sick relatives to health facilities.

At the Nyazura centre, registered nurse Noreen Chimanya checks patients’ vital signs, including blood pressure, blood sugar levels and temperature, before arranging a video consultation with a doctor. She also provides prescribed treatment regimens and refers serious cases to hospital.

“When we opened in May 2024, telemedicine was completely new to this community,” Chimanya told Al Jazeera. “People were used to talking directly to a doctor and being examined in person.”

Building trust required months of community outreach. Chimanya visited surrounding villages to explain how remote consultations work. “They like it here because there are no queues – at public health facilities, people spend hours waiting.”

The centre uses Starlink – the satellite internet service of US aerospace company SpaceX – and backup lithium batteries to maintain consultations during frequent power outages.

A lifeline for rural patients

According to ZimSmart Villages, as of 2026, the organisation had set up 28 telehealth centres across seven of Zimbabwe’s 10 provinces and conducted more than 28,000 remote consultations, including some 25,000 diagnostic tests.

Tawanda Njerere, co-founder and chief operating officer of the organisation, told Al Jazeera the programme was designed to create digital health access points within existing postal infrastructure. “Instead of asking rural patients to travel 50km or more to urban health facilities, the programme sets up digital health access points embedded within existing postal infrastructure.”

The centres charge between $2 and $10 per consultation, compared to $15 to $20 at many private clinics. For some rural households, that difference can determine whether they seek care or wait.

For Proud Chimene, a small business owner from nearby Chimene village, this makes seeking treatment feasible. In July 2024, after experiencing unexplained weight loss, extreme thirst and persistent fatigue, she came to the Nyazura centre. “The condition was worsening,” Chimene said. “The nurse checked my blood sugar and it was high. After speaking to the doctor via video, they put me on an intravenous drip for several hours. The doctor also prescribed medication I take twice a day.”

She was diagnosed with diabetes. “If it weren’t for this nearby telehealth centre providing access to a doctor at an affordable cost, I probably wouldn’t have sought any treatment.”

Njerere said the programme focuses on earlier detection of diseases by bringing screening services closer to communities. Electronic health records and follow-up consultations help patients manage chronic conditions such as hypertension and diabetes. The centres have also diagnosed sexually transmitted infections and referred patients needing specialist care.

Challenges remain

Despite its growth, telehealth cannot replace all services of traditional health facilities. Specialist services, particularly eye care, mental health and complex chronic disease management, remain limited across Zimbabwe.

“The programme addresses this through partnerships with eye care providers and specialist networks, but specialist capacity remains a system constraint,” Njerere said.

In some rural communities, unfamiliarity with remote consultations means building trust remains a challenge. For Kadzunge, the measure of success is simple: she can return to the fields and daily activities that illness had taken away. “I am well again,” she said. “Now I can go to the fields without scaring my family anymore.”