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Business and health faculties collaborate on Finance Management seminar

Dr. Sara Eapen(photo left) is a statistician and researcher at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts.

Ms. Jody Madala, a health care finance researcher, is a visiting lecturer in the Faculty of Heatlh Sciences.

Business and health facultiescollaborate on Finance
Management seminar. The faculties of Health Sciences and Management &
Administration at Africa University worked together to deliver a one-day seminar “Health Care FinanceManagement”, on Saturday, 25 February. Seminar presentations included papers examining health care financing perspectives in Zimbabwe and the USA and representatives of two of Zimbabwe’s leading health insurance providers, CIMAS and PSMAS/Premier, described their products and services to participants. Mrs. Violet Chikanya, a lecturer in the Faculty of Health Sciences, presented a paper on the “Zimbabwe Health
Services Structure” while Mr. Chris Njoroge of the Faculty of Management & Administration spoke on “Stemming Corporate Failures through Responsible Financial Reporting”. a specialist in health finance research, Ms. Jody Madala, made a key presentation entitled “Overview of USA Health Care System”.

Madala and a colleague, Dr. Sara Eapen, are on campus for two weeks (20 February to 3 March) as visiting lecturers in the Faculty of Health Sciences. They are teaching courses in Health Care Finance Management and Bio- Statistics respectively. Both Madala and Eapen were born in India but they
are now living and working in Boston, Massachusetts. Eapen is a researcher at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Madala works in health care finance research. The two women were introduced to Africa University by Dr. Cherian Thomas, who encouraged them to come to the insitution as visiting faculty. Thomas, who is director of Health and Welfare Ministries at the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM) in New York, also asked them to evaluate the impact of the Orphan and Vulnerable Children’s (OVC) project. The health sciences faculty oversees the project on behalf of
GBGM and the Zimbabwe Area UMC. “I am excited by the work that is being done here, more
so by the OVC project,” said Madala. “I have a special interest in HIV/AIDS and helping to educate people so that its spread can be reduced...I’m encouraged by the awareness posters I’ve seen everywhere.” For Madala and Eapen, sharing their expertise and interacting with students, fellow researchers and health professionals in a developing country that has similar
challenges to those facing their country of birth, India, is proving to be very fulfilling.

“One of my desires when I left India, also a developing country, was to give back by imparting whatever I learned to students in the developing world, be it India or Africa, where qualified professionals are needed.”
Through this seminar, the two faculties aim to broaden students’ views beyond the situation of Zimbabwe by giving them access to the expertise and perspectives of distinguished visiting lecturers. Faculty member and
community health specialist Dr. Barbael Krumme, notes that it’s also a great bonus to be able to partner with colleagues on matters that are relevant to both faculties. She presented a paper on Heatlh Care Finance Management at a one-day seminar on 25 February.