Shamiso Zamba

Ruth First Scholar 2021-22

Shamiso Zamba is from Zimbabwe.

She graduated from the University of Zimbabwe in 2011 with a Bachelor of Pharmacy Honours degree. Shamiso has worked as a District Pharmacist for the Ministry of Health and Childcare in Zimbabwe. Her work aimed to improve access to medicines in rural areas, especially for the treatment of HIV and TB and for maternal health and childcare. In 2014 she established her own community pharmacy in Hauna Growth Point in Honde Valley, a remote area situated near the eastern border of Zimbabwe. As well as serving the community in Hauna and the surrounding villages, the pharmacy places a particular emphasis on providing training and employment opportunities for young women. Shamiso works closely with the local hospital and has played an important role in sourcing medicines and PPE during the covid-19 pandemic.

At Durham, Shamiso took an MSc in Management (Supply Chain Logistics), which she passed with Distinction (with a Distinction mark for the dissertation). She was a member of St Chad’s College, which supports the Scholarship by providing subsidized accommodation for all Ruth First Scholars. She returned to Zimbabwe at the end of her course and aims to use the skills and knowledge gained at Durham to develop practical, sustainable, business-modelled solutions for the more effective and equitable distribution of chronic disease drugs within the public system.