This second generation Country Cooperation Strategy defines WHO’s role at country level and the broad framework for collaboration between the Organization and the Republic of Zimbabwe for the period 2008-2013.

The macroeconomic environment in Zimbabwe has shown consistent negative growth over the last ten years with levels of poverty worsening steadily. The increase in poverty can be attributed to the decline in economic performance, low productivity in agriculture due to recurrent droughts and lack of inputs, which have resulted in high unemployment and underemployment. This strategy is guided by: the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the WHO global priorities, the WHO Medium-Term Strategic Plan (MTSP), the WHO African Region orientations, the Zimbabwe United Nations Development Assistance Framework (ZUNDAF 2007-2011), and other relevant regional and subregional initiatives. It takes into consideration the importance of national development strategies as defined in the Zimbabwe Economic Development Strategy (ZEDS 2009-2013) and responds to the health needs as defined by the National Health Strategy (NHS 2008-2013). The definition of the strategic agenda for the period 2008-2013 was driven by an indepth analysis of the implementation of the first generation of the CCS 2004-2007, taking into consideration the unfinished agenda, as well as the recognition of the existence of new issues and challenges. The CCS, by taking into consideration WHO’s mission and functions and its comparative Advantage, provides an opportunity to reiterate the Organization’s commitment to continue supporting the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare (MoHCW) and the partners in addressing the major health and developmental challenges. The priorities agreed for WHO country cooperation constitute part of the strategic agenda with the following components:

(i) Improving health systems performance; (ii) Reducing the burden of the major communicable and noncommunicable diseases; (iii) Enhancing health promotion to reduce the major risk factors, including the promotion of healthy environments; and (iv) Addressing the vulnerability of the country to emerging health issues such as natural and man-made disasters, disease outbreaks and different risk factors through the strengthening of the Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR) capacity of the health sector.

The significant macroeconomic challenges, compounded by the critical human resources for health shortage, are impacting negatively the implementation of all programmes. It is expected that the reinforcement of the different coordination mechanisms will bring about more synergy and improvement of the health system performance. The implementation of the recommendations of the Ouagadougou Declaration on Primary Health Care and Health Systems in Africa will result in accelerated actions towards the achievement of the healthrelated Millennium Development Goals.

The timeframe of the second generation Country Cooperation Strategy is aligned with the Medium-Term Strategic Plan (MTSP). Its operationalization will therefore be done through three consecutive biennial Plans of Action: 2008-2009, 2010-2011 and 2012-2013. To achieve the strategic agenda, WHO will strengthen its country office performance and ensure that its support to the country is of good quality, strategic, well targeted and coordinated. Issues like leadership, staffing, continuous learning, good management and other administrative concerns will be addressed. Concerted approach among t he three levels of the Organization will be reinforced.