{"id":2606,"date":"2026-08-17T17:47:44","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T17:47:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/?p=2606"},"modified":"2026-08-18T09:47:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T09:47:54","slug":"netone-takes-healthcare-to-the-digital-frontier-in-musikavanhu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/2026\/08\/17\/netone-takes-healthcare-to-the-digital-frontier-in-musikavanhu\/","title":{"rendered":"NetOne Takes Healthcare to the Digital Frontier in Musikavanhu"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Fanuel Chinowaita<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Angeline Gata<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

CHIPINGE, Musikavanhu<\/strong>\u2014 A rural community in Zimbabwe’s Chipinge district is gaining access to medical expertise through technology after telecommunications giant NetOne launched a telemedicine service in Musikavanhu, in a move officials say could help bridge the country’s rural healthcare divide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Angeline Gata hailed the initiative as a practical demonstration of how digital connectivity can be turned into a tool for delivering essential services to communities that often face long journeys and financial barriers to healthcare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The launch came as NetOne marked 30 years of connecting Zimbabwe, with the company seeking to redefine the role of telecommunications beyond voice calls and internet access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Residents attending the NetOne at 30 Medical Outreach and Telemedicine Launch<\/strong> received free medical screenings, consultations and medicines before the community was connected to the telemedicine platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For residents of Musikavanhu, the service could mean access to medical expertise without the costly and often difficult journeys to major health centres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Ernest Magadzire, NetOne’s Public Relations Manager<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ernest Magadzire, NetOne’s Public Relations Manager, said the company was increasingly measuring the value of its network by the impact it has on people’s lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt NetOne, we have connected Zimbabweans for 30 years. But as we celebrate NetOne at 30, we are asking ourselves a bigger question: What should that connectivity achieve?\u201d Magadzire said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf it allows a patient in Musikavanhu to access medical expertise without travelling long distances, that is impact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Magadzire said NetOne wanted to place technology at the centre of Zimbabwe’s development by ensuring that its infrastructure produced tangible social and economic benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to be the vanguard of Zimbabwe’s digital economy, ensuring that technology translates into real improvements in people’s lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur mandate is not simply to build networks. Our mandate is to use those networks to enable national development.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The telemedicine service will be supported by community health ambassadors who will conduct basic health checks, identify possible health concerns and direct patients to appropriate care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where necessary, patients can be referred for further treatment or connected to healthcare professionals through virtual consultations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The programme, implemented with support from ZimSmart Villages, brings together telecommunications, healthcare and community development in an attempt to tackle one of rural Zimbabwe’s persistent problems: access to specialist medical services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initiative also aligns with First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa’s advocacy for virtual healthcare and the government’s broader Vision 2030 agenda, which seeks to use technology to drive inclusive development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Musikavanhu launch represents more than a new telecommunications service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It signals an emerging shift in how digital infrastructure can be deployed in rural Zimbabwe \u2014 turning mobile connectivity into a pathway to healthcare and other essential services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For NetOne, the challenge now is to ensure that the technology reaches more communities and that connectivity translates into sustained access to quality healthcare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Musikavanhu residents, however, that digital bridge has already begun to take shape.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Fanuel Chinowaita CHIPINGE, Musikavanhu\u2014 A rural community in Zimbabwe’s Chipinge district is gaining access to medical expertise through technology after telecommunications giant NetOne launched a telemedicine service in Musikavanhu, in a move officials say could help bridge the country’s rural healthcare divide. Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Angeline Gata hailed the initiative…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2606"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2610,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2606\/revisions\/2610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}