Voices of the Experts in Our Midst | Dr Zedekiah Sibanda – A diaspora health worker supporting mental health in Zimbabwe

Dr Zedekiah Sibanda is a Consultant Paediatrician based at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital (Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board). Originally from Zimbabwe, Dr Sibanda undertook his medical training in Harare before pursuing post-graduate training in the UK. From 1996, he practiced as a consultant in Bulawayo for four years, but after returning to the UK in 2000, he has practiced in Wales for over 20 years. 

Dr Sibanda started travelling to Zimbabwe regularly, combining family visits with support to trainee Paediatricians in Harare and Bulawayo. Initially, these were supervision and mentorship visits, and over time he began teaching in sub-specialities such as Neurodisability. Dr Sibanda estimates that he would support 10 to 20 students every year. 

Dr Sibanda cites wanting to ‘give back,’ as a key internal motivation for pursuing this work. Common to many diaspora is a sense of guilt for having joined the ‘brain drain’, while making rational personal decisions to emigrate. He estimates that of the professionals he helped to train over the years, a third of them have now left Zimbabwe, and Paediatrics is far from the worst affected profession. 

Dr Sibanda joined a diaspora-led organisation called Zimbabwe Health Training Support (ZHTS), an umbrella organisation that supports numerous health system strengthening initiatives by providing an organisational framework. With this support, Dr Sibanda was successful in securing funding via the Wales and Africa grants scheme. In this way he has supported larger training sessions, for instance in the treatment of Epilepsy, supporting the input of Welsh colleagues, such as specialists in Paediatric Neurology and Physiotherapists.