The Health Department
History of Church Health Services in Zambia follows the development of the missionary movement into Zambia around the late 1890s.
The Catholic health department preceded the formation of the Churches Medical Association of Zambia (CMAZ). The formation of the CMAZ was a result of the merger of the Medical Committee of the Christian Council and the Health Department of ZEC by the Catholic Secretariat in 1970. It was deemed necessary to form one association, known as CMAZ, which could represent the interests of church administered health institutions in the country. The first CMAZ general secretary was for a period of time based in the Catholic Secretariat and communicated with health institutions through the Secretariat’s periodic magazine, the “Impact” until CMAZ was established in Ben Bella Road. CMAZ has since changed its name to Churches Health Association of Zambia (CHAZ).
Today, the membership of CHAZ is comprised of Church mother bodies namely, Churches Council of Zambia (CCZ), Evangelical Churches of Zambia, (EFZ) and the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC).
Through CHAZ, Churches aim to speak with one voice to the government on matters of health and health care services in general and the work of church health institutions in particular.
Churches in Zambia provide approximately 30% of the National Health Service. Of this 30% up to between 40% to 50% of church related health care delivery is Catholic driven.
Our Vision
A nation where each person enjoys a state of well-being and contributes to national development.
Our Mission
As ZEC Health Department inspired by the Gospel values and the social teachings of the Church are committed to deliver quality health services to everyone in need through policy formulation, planning, coordination and support to all dioceses with full participation in collaboration with other stakeholders
Health Department of the Catholic Secretariat
- The Health Department in the Catholic Secretariat is responsible for Health in all 10 Catholic Dioceses of Zambia. Each diocese has a Health department that reports to the National Health Department and also CHAZ.
The Mandates of the Health Department within ZEC is to:
Policy formulation & direction
To ensure that Gospel values and the Catholic social teachings provide the framework in which the Churches Health interventions are conceived and implemented
The National Health department facilitates the linkages of the Dioceses, CHAZ and other stakeholders in the implementation of the Health Policy
The Health department provides logistical support in developing, implementing, monitoring and review of the Catholic Health Policy.
The Health Dept is responsible for linking up Dioceses in regard to coordination, policy issues; development of community based health programs and many other health and HIV/AIDS related issues.
To support the development of human resource in order to positively contribute and enhance quality health care services and increase motivation through on-going formation.
- Monitoring and evaluation
Maintain and improve Health Institution and Programs operational and implementation procedures and processes to assure quality health services and decision-making.
Involve all levels of Health Institutions and community-based programs in planning and management in order to foster ownership and sustainability of programs.
The need for collaboration comes out of a shared vision and understanding of the Churches mission and its pastoral role in society
To guide the church on ethically sound and scientifically and evidence based research bringing out the best practices.
- Documentation and communication
An integrated information and communication system to be established and operational to provide evidence for Catholic Church health and HIV/ADS response in Zambia
To facilitate mobilization of both internal and external resources to support and enhance effective administration of Health Institutions and programs.
Strengthen capacity for advocacy and coordination by all partners and strengthen the enabling framework to facilitate a sustainable scale up of service delivery.
- Networking internally & externally
To enhance true partnership through dialogue, coordination, harmonization and information sharing take place at all levels of implementation with stakeholders and partners.
Currently the Health department coordinates 18 Catholic Hospitals, 38 Catholic Rural Health Centres, 10 Hospices and 200 Home based care Programmes. Most of these hospitals and health centres are situated in very remote rural areas of Zambia |
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