SDA in inaugural health conference

ZIMBABWE Union Conference of the Seventh Day Adventist Church will hold its inaugural interdenominational health conference dubbed ‘Adventist Professional Health Conference’ at the Crown Plaza hotel in Harare next week.

The conference will run from February 9 to February 11, 2017 under the theme “Making a Difference”.

Adventist Relief Agency (ADRA) will also be part of the three-day conference.

Church national health director Pastor Douglas Mutanga said the aim of the conference is to empower and motivate medical doctors, nurses and all those who work in the medical field.

He said the conference will be an annual event and will advance the Adventist health vision.

“The purpose of the forthcoming health conference is to enable health professionals to network, share skills and expand knowledge among each other. We are using the conference to promote health practitioners so that they can give back to their communities,” Pastor Mutanga said.

He added, “The conference will not be for the Adventists only, everyone in the medical field is invited.”

Several experts in the medical field will attend the conference.

“Professor Daniel Gamu from our Adventist University in Kenya, among other esteemed health professionals, will grace the conference,” he said.

“Locally we have partnered with the Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund. At the end of the conference, attendees will be awarded with Continuing Medical Education (CME) certificates.”

He further highlighted that next week’s conference will prepare a way for the church’s health expo that will take place in Masvingo from February 19-26, 2017. “SDA is an institution with a soft spot for health issues hence we strive to educate and empower communities about health issues.

“In Masvingo we will offer free medical consultation, treatment, counseling and free medication,” he said.

Topics to be covered during the conference include cancer, trauma, open heart surgery, diabetics, toxicology, mental health, non communicable diseases and typhoid, among otherglobal health issues.

“The purpose of the forthcoming health conference is to enable health professionals to network, share skills and expand knowledge among each other.’’