
THE Association of Healthcare Funders of Zimbabwe (AHFoZ) has thrown its weight behind the Insurance Institute of Zimbabwe’s (IIZ) new curriculum, saying it will equip medical aid professionals with skills to manage their businesses.
The new curriculum comes hard on the heels of the Insurance and Pension Commission (Ipec) Amendment Bill that was passed in December 2024, which will result in medical aid societies being regulated by Ipec instead of the Ministry of Health and Child Care.
In an interview with NewsDay Business at the launch of the IIZ curriculum on Friday last week, AHFoZ chief executive officer Shylet Sanyanga described the curriculum as a milestone.
“For us, it is a milestone in the sense that over the years, ever since there was a medical aid business in this country, there has never been a specific training for those people who have been working in medical aid societies or even some who end up leading the business of medical aid,” she said.
Sanyanga said the curriculum, which focused on the certificate of proficiency, was unprecedented in the medical aid sector.
“So, for us at AHFoZ, we do not describe it from the perspective of a change in the curriculum. It is a change in the curriculum, maybe from the IIZ perspective, because they have been running courses before,” she said.
“So, for us, it is a step towards having people with the requisite skills or people with appropriate skills to be running a business of medical aid. So, we are expecting that going forward, medical aid societies will be run efficiently and sustainably by people who have requisite skills and we hope to introduce further training as we go forward.”
IIZ’s new curriculum introduced new systems and new approaches in the insurance industry.
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The institute said the curriculum is billed to transform the industry, enabling insurers in Zimbabwe to expand their coverage both regionally and internationally.
Ipec commissioner Grace Muradzikwa also commented on the significance of the new IIZ curriculum, particularly its timing with Zimbabwe’s recent membership in the African Continental Free Trade Area.