Dr. Godfrey Gwaze Sikipa

This is a story of a public health medical champion in Africa, who started his journey in Zimbabwe and took the fight for Health for All to continental Africa before taking it to the global community. Dr. Godfrey Gwaze Sikipa passed away on the 5th of May 2025 in Virginia, USA, after a twenty-year battle with cancer, which he faced with optimism and determination. He was surrounded by his family at the time of his passing. He is survived by his wife, Dolly; his sons, Tapiwa, Shingayi, Rufaro and Farai; and his grandchildren, Jamie, Josh, Sophie, Daniel and Benji. Born in 1951 in Goromonzi, Dr. Sikipa was the eighth of ten siblings. His parents were Gwaze and Edinah (nee Kamvuri) Sikipa. He attended Fletcher High School in Gweru. Dr. Sikipa trained as a medical doctor at the University of Rhodesia before going to the United Kingdom to specialize as a Public Health Specialist. He joined the Ministry of Health and rose through the ranks from Medical Officer at Kwekwe General Hospital to become the first Provincial Medical Director of the newly formed Mashonaland West. In recognition of his strong leadership in public and primary health care, as well as his commitment to expanding access to health services for all, he was appointed to lead Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health —first as Principal Medical Director and soon after as Permanent Secretary under Minister Dr. Timothy Stamps. Dr Sikipa subsequently moved into international public health to head the Family Health International Africa Program in Washington DC before coming to set up the African Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. After setting up the office, he joined the UNAIDS headquarters in Geneva, to head the African AIDS Program. He later moved to the United States, joining RTI International, a nonprofit organization headquartered in the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina, USA that provides research and technical services. During his time overseas, he served as a Member of the Technical Evaluation Reference Group of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. As his continued contribution to Zimbabwe’s national development, he served on the Presidential Advisory Council to the President of Zimbabwe (2018-2023), served as Chairman of the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals Management Board and was a member of the Zimbabwe College of Public Health Physicians, which supported the Ministry of Health in continuing to advance public and primary health care and in the national response to COVID-19. He also served on the Board of Zimbabwe Island Hospice and Healthcare, the first hospice in Africa. His community-centered upbringing in Goromonzi, unwavering belief in the strength of love and family and more so the extended family, service to the nation, as well as his strong will power, resulted in a life fully dedicated to service to others, epitomized by the expression, “one life lived, many lives touched”

Dr. Godfrey Gwaze Sikipa

June 6, 1951 - May 5, 2025