President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe resigned just as impeachment proceedings against him got under way, ending his 37-year rule.

Zimbabwe is facing considerable challenges, but if Mnangagwa takes reengagement seriously and if global partners continue to engage with the health sector, the country will have the tools to make remarkable progress. 

As Zimbabwe approaches important by-elections in March, the identity of the country’s foremost opposition party is once again under threat. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), in recent decades Zimbabwe’s most formidable opposition party, has undergone a series of splits and reorganizations. 

Mnangagwa's victory was promptly and shamefully endorsed by African Union observers and those from the Southern African Development Community, but questioned by observers from the European Union, the National Democratic institute and the International Republican Institute, and, most important, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, a local NGO umbrella that deployed 6,500 observers around the country.

Last month, Zimbabwean Permanent Secretary for Information Media and Broadcasting Services George Charamba told the press that Zimbabwe's upcoming July 30 elections are “an instrument of foreign policy.” This is a strange way to think about a democratic exercise, and it raises serious concerns about Zimbabwe's future.