In Zambia, there a number of different ways to access healthcare. However, we are struggling to answer what the five health care providers are in the country. There are more than five main hospitals or clinics in Zambia that provide healthcare, only two healthcare ministries, and various types of health workers including doctors, nurses, midwives, clinical officers, technicians, medical teaching staff, medical consulates, and medical licentiates. If we had to choose the five types of healthcare providers in Zambia, we would probably break them down into those five broad categories: health technicians, nurses, midwives, doctors, and clinical officers.
The clinical officer, which is not a position that is necessary seen in other parts of the world, is an educated position that may be compared to something like a nurse-practitioner in other parts of the world. Clinical officers are able to provide routine clinical care for patients, include routine obstetric and surgical operations.
There are three levels of health care facility in the overall Zambian health system. The first level is for community-level care and includes regular hospitals, health centers, and health posts. These are responsible for the daily and normal healthcare needs of the community. The second level includes provincial or general hospitals, where people may go for more significant care of to access better equipment. The third level is for central or specialist hospitals. There are also two ministries that oversee health: The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Community Development, Mother and Child Health. The separation of these two ministries may represent one of the challenges to the adequate provision of healthcare in some parts of Zambia, particularly rural areas, though it was done to help streamline the provision of health to people.
Integrating these various different healthcare methods is one of the challenges to improving health in the country. What this means is that the country’s healthcare delivery system has some challenges, especially in rural areas, where Zambians may lack access to any type of healthcare provider on a regular basis.