Michael Gwarisa
The University of Zimbabwe, in collaboration with the Africa CDC, has named the Zimbabwe Mental Health Leadership Short Course after the late psychiatrist Dr Evelyn Mazike.
Dr Mazike, a lecturer in the Department of Mental Health at the University of Zimbabwe’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, passed away in 2025. She played a key role in coordinating the programme and advancing mental health leadership initiatives in Zimbabwe and across the region.
Speaking to HealthTimes on the sidelines of the second edition of the Zimbabwe Mental Health Leadership Programme, Mohammed Abdulaziz, Head of Division for Disease Control and Prevention at the Africa CDC, said the decision was made to honour Dr Mazike’s lasting impact on public mental health.
“Last year, unfortunately, we lost the course coordinator Dr Evelyn and because we are implementing this programme together with the University of Zimbabwe, we extend our heartfelt condolences to the family and to the university. In full honour of Dr Evelyn, the University of Zimbabwe decided that we can name this programme the Dr Evelyn Short Course for Public Mental Health in Zimbabwe,” said Abdulaziz.
Dr Mazike is also renowned for founding the Africa CDC Mental Health Leadership Programme (MHLP) and researching immunopsychiatric markers for depression. She also coordinated the University of Zimbabwe MPhil in Public Mental Health and served as a Course Director for the Africa CDC Mental Health Leadership Programme.
Her research work mainly focused on the intersection of physical and mental illness, specifically developing algorithms for diagnosing major depressive disorder in Zimbabwe. Her advocacy work included efforts to improve mental health services, including addressing postnatal depression.
Commenting on the honour bestowed on the memory of Dr Mazike, her colleague at UZ and current coordinator for the Zimbabwe Mental Health Leadership Short Course, Bazondile Dube, said naming the programme after her reflects the passion and dedication she had for mental health leadership.
“This honour that has been given to Evelyn and naming the short course after her name, which is now going to be called the Dr Evelyn Mazike Short Course instead of the Zimbabwe Mental Health Leadership Short Course, is a huge honour because she had so much passion for this programme. She was a dedicated psychiatrist and a specialist.
“She worked very hard to ensure the inception of the mental health leadership programme and to ensure Zimbabwe became the host of the programme in Southern Africa.
“She was a very good leader, a psychiatrist with a passion for mental health and did a lot of groundwork to ensure this programme came to fruition. I worked with her last year. She was my mentor and leader,” said Dube.
Colleagues and family members said the recognition reflects the lasting impact Dr Mazike had on mental health education and leadership development in Zimbabwe and across the continent.
Meanwhile, her son, Pataida Mazike, said the family was deeply moved by the honour and the continued recognition of his mother’s work.
“The course being named after her is a big honour because she was dedicated to her work. The last day she was actually at home, in the morning she was getting ready to go and invigilate an exam she had set. To the very last moment she was dedicated to her work,” said Mazike.
“When my mom was travelling and doing a lot of work in the last years of her life, I do not think any of us really understood what it was all about or the depth of what she was doing. Being here today, I am starting to understand the depth of what she was actually doing, and it touches me that you are all here doing something that she started and that you are really passionate about.”
