Background: Travel time and healthcare financing are critical determinants of the provision of quality maternal health care in low resource settings. Despite the availability of pregnancy-related mHealth and smart travel applications, there is a lack of evidence on their usage to travel to health facilities for routine antenatal care and emergencies. There is a shortage of information about the feasibility of using a custom-made mobile technology that integrates smart travel and mHealth. This paper explores the feasibility of implementing a custom-made geographically enabled mobile technology-based tool (RoadMApp) to counter the adverse effects of long travel times for maternal care in Kwekwe District, Zimbabwe. Methods: We frame the paper using the first two steps (listen & plan) of the Spiral Technology Action Research (STAR model). The paper uses an exploratory case study design and Participatory Learning Approaches (PLA) with stakeholders (community members) and in-depth interviews with key informants (health care service providers, pregnant women, transport operators). One hundred ninety-three participants took part in the study. We conducted focus group discussions with pregnant women, women of childbearing age, men (household heads), and elderly women. The discussion questions centered on travel time, availability of transport, cellular network coverage, and perceptions of the RoadMApp application. Data were analysed thematically using Nvivo Pro 12. Results: Most parts of rural Kwekwe are far from health facilities and have an inefficient road and telecommunications network. Hence, it is hard to predict if RoadMApp will integrate into the lives of the community-especially those in rural areas. Since these issues are pillars of the design of the RoadMApp mHealth, the implementation will probably be a challenge.

The paper investigated liquidity management by commercial banks when there was hyperinflation. The main enquiry of this study was to understand how Zimbabwe commercial banks managed liquidity risk in a hyperinflationary environment. To achieve this, information was obtained from primary sources with data collected from decision makers of fifteen commercial banks which met the criteria of full scale operation from 2000-2009. To compliment this, secondary data sources were used. Focal areas of the study were to analyse years of bank business; ownership; liquidity risk management responsibility; products offered by commercial banks; major sources of funds and applications; internal and external liquid instruments to manage liquidity risk, impact of inflation on liquidity risk management; and the effect the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe instruments introduced to fight inflation. The findings show that liquidity risk management during the hyperinflation was a challenge. The Instruments used by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to fight inflation had negative effect on commercial banks asset and liability management. In line with this, the monetary authorities were recommended to put in place measures which took into consideration the impact of their policies on bank liquidity risk management when there are problems of high inflation. The study also recommends commercial banks to take proactive management measures and long term views to operations, in other words beyond the current challenges posed by inflation. In the process banks would create new demand for the products.

Background: Travel time and health care financing are key determinants to the provision of quality maternal health care in low resource settings. Despite the availability of pregnancy-related mHealth and smart travel applications, there is a lack of evidence on their usage to travel to health facilities for routine antenatal care and emergencies in low resource settings like Zimbabwe. Little is known about the feasibility of the usage of custom-made mobile technologies that integrate smart travel and mHealth. This paper explores the feasibility of implementing a custom-made geographically enabled mobile technology-based tool (RoadMApp) to counter the negative effects of long travel times and poor financing strategies for maternal care in Kwekwe District, Zimbabwe. Methods: Focus group discussions were conducted with pregnant women, women of childbearing age, men (household heads) and elderly women. Participatory learning approaches with stakeholders (community members) and in-depth interviews with key informants (health care service providers, transport operators) were utilised. In total 193 people took part in the study. The discussion questions centred on travel time, availability of transport, cellular network coverage and perceptions of the RoadMApp application. Data was analysed thematically using Nvivo Pro 12.Results: Most parts of rural Kwekwe have long distances to health facilities and an inefficient road and telecommunications network. Hence, it is hard to predict if RoadMApp will integrate into the lives of the community - especially those in rural areas. Since these issues are pillars of the design of the RoadMApp application, the implementation is likely to be challenging.Conclusion: Communities are keen to embrace the RoadMApp application. However, the feasibility of implementing RoadMApp in Kwekwe District will be challenging due to maternal health care barriers such as poor road network, poor phone network and the high cost of transport. There is, therefore, a need to investigate the social determinants of access to maternity services in order to inform the RoadMApp implementation.

The study investigates the trends and challenges of financial inclusion by commercial banks in Zimbabwe after the adoption of the multiple currency regime. Results showed that some commercial banks made efforts to ensure financial inclusion. New innovations like cell phone banking and internet banking were positive steps towards ensuring financial inclusion by Zimbabwean commercial banks. The foreign owned commercial banks in Zimbabwe however were not doing much as compared to the locally owned commercial banks. A number of challenges to financial inclusion were identified, chiefly being the liquidity challenges and high bank charges. Based on the research findings, we recommend the structuring of sustainable financial products and establishment of supportive infrastructure to enable Zimbabwean commercial banks to mitigate the challenges of financial inclusion in a liquidity constrained environment.

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