Zimbabwe's healthcare system has collapsed. Life expectancy is the lowest in the world. Dead bodies accumulate in hospital mortuaries or are buried hastily and surreptitiously in rural areas by poverty-stricken family members. The most recent estimates suggest that between 3,000 and 3,500 die every week from HIV-related diseases although some people believe the numbers are significantly higher. And biblical problems of plague, starvation and its attendant diseases such as kwashiorkor are rife. Few people even try to obtain medical treatment as they cannot afford the exorbitant costs involved in travelling to hospitals (ambulances have no fuel either) nor can they afford to pay for drugs since patients or family members are required increasingly to purchase their own drugs. In many instances, ambulances have been replaced by ox-drawn carts, but animal feed is also in short supply.

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Roger Bate is a resident fellow at AEI. Richard Tren is a research fellow at the Environment Unit at the Institute of Economic Affairs. Pius Ncube is the former archbishop emeritus of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Jasson Urbach is a primary field researcher for Enterprise Africa.