Emaswati criticise govt’s performance on health – Survey

The Afrobarometer Round 10 survey findings have revealed widespread frustration with the public healthcare sector with most Emaswati criticising government on its poor performance in this sector.

The survey revealed that among citizens, who had contact with a public clinic or hospital in the past year, almost nine in 10 said they experienced a lack of medicines or medical supplies during their visit, with eight in 10 reporting long waiting times, and six in 10 saying the cost of care or medicines was unaffordable.

It adds that overwhelming majorities of respondents lack medical coverage and worry about obtaining or affording necessary medical care while three-fourths reported going without medical care at least once during the past year.
“More than seven in 10 Emaswati rate government’s performance on providing basic health services poorly.
Two-thirds point to inadequate public funding as the reason for the current shortages of drugs and medical supplies, and half favour privatising the state-owned Central Medical Stores (CMS) to ensure a reliable supply,” reads the findings in part.

It adds that Emaswati expressed strong support for universal health coverage with two-thirds saying government should ensure that all citizens have access to adequate health care, even if it meant raising taxes.
The survey also states that government has emphasised the importance of having a “healthy and productive population that lives longer, fulfilling, and responsible lives”. It says through its National Health Sector Strategic Plan 2024/2025-2027/2028, the ministry of health is working to accelerate progress towards universal health coverage (UHC) by 2030, with a focus on expanding service coverage and building an inclusive and effective health-care system.

It adds that in 2024, the country reached 58% on the UHC Index, a composite metric indicating the overall level of UHC attainment within a country as disclosed by the World Health Organization (WHO) last year.
“While Eswatini’s most recent score is higher than the regional average (46%), it is lower than its 2017 score (63%) as reported by the ministry of health last year.
The country set itself a target of 70% service coverage by 2028, which the World Health Organization says will require faster progress.

“Eswatini was the first African country to obtain HIV epidemic control, reaching the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets seven years ahead of the 2030 target (World Health Organisation, 2023). At present, 97% of Emaswati living with HIV know their HIV status, 98.3% of those with a confirmed HIV-positive diagnosis receive antiretroviral therapy (ART), and 98.4% of people receiving ART have achieved viral suppression (Rijkenberg, 2025).”
However, the findings add that in recent years, the public healthcare system has struggled to deliver quality services.
One of the central challenges, it says, is inadequate funding: “While the government currently allocates 8.1% of the national budget to the health sector (totalling E3.2 billion in 2025), this is barely more than half of the 15% commitment it made when signing the Abuja Declaration for health financing in 2001.”
The report notes that in July, Minister of Health Mduduzi Matsebula admitted a need to transform health funding in the country.

It also notes that Matsebula listed several other challenges facing the healthcare sector, including dilapidated infrastructure, overcrowding of facilities, the poor condition of medical tools and equipment, and insufficient human resources due to a hiring freeze on civil servants that has been in place since 2018.
“The World Health Organization notes that Eswatini has a deficit of more than 10 000 healthcare workers. Shortages of medicines in public health facilities – forcing patients to buy them at high prices from private suppliers – is a persistent issue and in 2023, it triggered mass protests.”