By Michael Gwarisa
PREPARATIONS to the Association of Health Funders of Zimbabwe (AHFoZ) 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference are at an advanced stage amid indications that more than 200 delegates will be in attendance from both the local and international scene.
The conference will be held in the resort town of Victoria Falls from 6 to 9 September 2017 and will be running under the theme “The Health Ecosystem & The Quality of Life.”
In an interview with HealthTimes , AHFoZ Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ms Shylet Sanyanga said all was in place for the conference and there was renewed interest in the conference by stakeholders..
“All is set for the AHFoZ Annual All-Stakeholders’ Conference on Health to be held at The Kingdom Hotel, Victoria Falls from the 6th to the 9th of September 2017 running under the theme “The Health Ecosystem and Quality of Life”
“The All Stakeholders’ Conference on Health provides a platform that brings together representatives of all players in the health-care supply chain . Over the past years, the Conference attracted 200 -250 delegates, we anticipate that this year will be just like the other years. Everyone is a key stakeholder in issues of health,” said Sanyanga.
She added that there would be massive participation from foreign health players from the SADC region and the international community and a number of high level international speakers have been lined up for the conference.
“There will be participation from SADC Members as AHFoZ is an associate member of the Board of Healthcare Funders of Southern Africa (BHF).
“Delegates from Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Malawi and South Africa will attend the event. We also regularly have delegates from the International Federation of Health Plans (iFHP) United Kingdom. The numbers are building momentum. So far most responses have been coming from medical aid societies and hospitals.We hope that employer organisations as well as representatives of consumers will also attend. Everyone is a consumer of healthcare, whether they are on medical aid or not. The program includes high level local and international speakers.”
Meanwhile, this year’s Conference is set to come up with a different model of understanding, creating and providing healthcare that will encompass the full continuum of discovery, development and delivery.
“We have noticed that if we limit the discussion on healthcare to simply debt, cost or access, we will fail to come to terms with how fundamentally the healthcare sector needs to be revitalised and what it will take to fix it for us to work towards revitalising quality to healthcare through functional health care eco-systems .
“We realise that the ecosystem goes beyond our usual partners in health, every sector plays its role in creating a robust ecosystem.” added Sanyanga.
AHFoZ’s vision is “to create an enabling environment for healthcare funders to achieve accessible quality service and viability”. The Goal is to promote a revitalized healthcare system in Zimbabwe through collaborative efforts within the healthcare ecosystem.
Conference Objectives include creating a platform for stakeholders to harness the power of collaboration and knowledge sharing to improve care, stretch budgets, and spark innovation to continue come up with as many ways to deliver the highest level of patient care with limited economic and human resources.
The conference also seeks to explore the tremendous value potential of cross-boundary integration and innovative technology partnerships working together under one Healthcare ecosystem, promote dialogue to find solutions and to create a better understanding amongst stakeholders, strengthen mutual understanding and provide networking opportunities and sharing of notes.
It also provides an opportunity for Continuous learning and development and participants earn Continuous Professional Development(CPD) points.
