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Voices of the Experts in Our Midst | Lucia Vambe: A diaspora health worker supporting mental health in Zimbabwe

5 December 2024

Lucia Vambe was born in Zimbabwe and came to the UK in the 90s where she trained as a mental health nurse. With over 20 years of experience in the NHS, Lucia has worked across various settings, including inpatient community, clinical governance and education teams. Lucia shared with us the need for increased resources to address pressing needs of mental health care in Zimbabwe.

There are some challenges in Zimbabwe’s mental health system, which includes a reliance on paper-based patient records and a lack of a wider community mental health services. Accessibility to adequate mental health treatment also remains a significant challenge.

Recognising this, Lucia established the Zimbabwe Life Project (ZLP) in 2018. This UK-based charity, founded by Lucia, comprises mental health nurses, doctors, and therapists who have come together with the aim of developing a skills exchange programme with mental health professionals in Zimbabwe. These professionals are volunteers, mostly using their own money and time to go to Zimbabwe and share their experiences.

“I remember our first visit to Africa with the group, some of them had never been there before, we witnessed first-hand how people manage difficult mental health situations with limited resources, yet still achieve positive outcomes. It was a humbling experience. In contrast, we have many resources here in the UK, yet we sometimes complain. This inspired me to share such examples during my clinical risk training sessions, which had a great impact and brought about positive mindset when facing difficult situations. So far, we have had over 30 clinicians, including some who had never been to Africa, come to Zimbabwe with me and share their experiences and learning with our counterparts there.”

The tangible support extended further, with the facilitation of various donations of medical equipment and supplies that ZLP gathers in the UK and ship to hospitals in Zimbabwe yearly.

Collaboration with host hospitals is a cornerstone of ZLP’s operations in Zimbabwe. Since 2018, the work of ZLP has been acknowledged by the Ministry of Health & Childcare in Zimbabwe and the charity have received support from The British Embassy in Harare. Support is also strong in the NHS Trusts where ZLP volunteers work, and Lucia shared that NHS East of England had given ZLP permission to wear the NHS logo on their T-shirts as ‘NHS volunteers ‘.

Discover more stories like Lucia’s in our Voices of the Experts in Our Midst report

Voices of the Experts in Our Midst | Lucia Vambe: A diaspora health worker supporting mental health in Zimbabwe

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