How telehealth is helping close the healthcare gap in rural Zimbabwe

Nyazura, Zimbabwe – Bright fluorescent lights reflect off polished floors as Anymore Kadzunge returns for a routine check-up at a telehealth centre that helped diagnose the illness she had struggled with for months.The 38-year-old farmer sits quietly as a nurse wraps a blood pressure cuff around her arm. Moments later, the machine beeps with the reading.Only months earlier, Kadzunge had been struggling to work her fields or prepare meals for her family. She had spent three months experiencing chest pains and dizziness before walking 14km (8.7 miles) from her village of Chimbondi after a friend told her about the facility.A nurse found her blood pressure was elevated and connected her with a doctor through a video consultation.“The nurse tested my blood pressure, but it was extremely high,” Kadzunge told Al Jazeera. “I then spoke to a doctor through a video call.”She was diagnosed with hypertension and prescribed medication, which she continues to take daily. Within days, her condition improved.Bringing doctors closerKadzunge’s experience comes as efforts grow to bring doctors closer to rural communities in Zimbabwe, where years of economic hardship have left the public health syste...