J.F. Kapnek Charitable Trust

The Strengthening Science for Women program provides scholarships and tutorial support for promising young women who are interested in pursuing a medical or health services career in Zimbabwe to complete their junior college (or “A-level”) education. Since its inception 15 years ago, more than 200 women have participated in the program; more than one-third of these have completed university or medical education. The Strengthening Science for Women program has proven a successful mechanism for educating young women in the health sciences, and 11 doctors have been trained under the program. (more...)

The Pediatric AIDS Fund-Zimbabwe
: The Trust has recently been involved in developing a pilot project to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV using the drug Nevirapine. The project is being implemented in conjunction with Global Strategies for HIV Prevention, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation/ Call to Action Program, the Zimbabwean Ministry of Health – National AIDS Coordination Program (NACP), the University of Zimbabwe-Zimbabwe AIDS Prevention Project (ZAPP) and the Zimbabwean Ministry of Health and Child Welfare. The project aims to reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV by offering regular antenatal care, using multivitamin supplements to reduce the likelihood of pre-term delivery (a known risk factor for perinatal HIV transmission), offering a single-dose regimen of Nevirapine to both women and their infants, and providing psychosocial support for exclusive breastfeeding or, where indicated, alternative feeding using infant formula. The J. F. Kapnek Charitable Trust is the first non-governmental organization to deliver a Nevirapine intervention in Zimbabwe. The project is undergoing expansion to other clinics and hospitals nationally, in the hope of being a part of the solution for the terrible wave of destruction that is robbing the country of its vitality. (more...)

Visiting Scholars Program: The Trust’s Visiting Scholars Program supports academicians, researchers and medical staff who are visiting Zimbabwe in the interest of promoting and strengthening global ties between the scientific and education communities. The Trust provides room, board, and other services at its house in Harare, as well as modest stipends for those Scholars most in need. Last year, more than twenty-five participants and distinguished scholars from such noted institutions as Johns Hopkins University, Princeton University, the University of California-San Francisco, the University of California-Berkeley, Stanford University, McMasters University and The Children’s Hospital, Oakland stayed at the facility. Their research projects span the fields of Epidemiology, Hematology, Microbiology, Virology, Immunology, most significantly, and AIDS research. (more...)

Small Grants Program: Since its inception in 1970, the Trust has awarded a number of small grants annually to talented Zimbabwean scholars and researchers to foster their professional development through attendance at international conferences, to support thesis and dissertation preparation, or to assist them through critical periods in their medical or professional training. Through the small grants program, the Trust continues to strengthen the human resources for the successful development of Zimbabwe.

Past Projects:: Pilot Program in Curriculum Reform: In 1985, the Trust supported members of the Task Force on Curriculum Reform at the University of Zimbabwe’s School of Medicine to visit medical schools in the U.S. and Canada to conduct comparative curriculum analysis. The University of Zimbabwe subsequently reorganized its medical training program, instituting a rural field program for students that was also initially funded by the Trust.

Central African Medical Journal: The Kapnek Trust supported the journal from its inception (in 1986) to its acceptance as a juried publication under University ownership in 1991. The journal enables the University to exchange publications with universities and research institutions worldwide, which has greatly enhanced the medical library at the University of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwean Journal of Veterinary Medicine: In 1986 the Trust gave a five-year grant to this journal, a key publication of the School of Veterinary Medicine in Zimbabwe that serves the nine nations of Southern Africa.

Health Management Workshop for District Medical Officers from the Southern Africa Development Region: In 1987, with the Zimbabwean Ministry of Health, the University of Zimbabwe, and the World Health Organization, the Kapnek Trust co-sponsored this five-week health management training workshop for health officers from Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The five-week workshop enhanced district-level health management in the nine nations represented.

Study of Child Feeding Practices in Zimbabwe: During 1986-87, the Trust supported a team of researchers from the University of Zimbabwe and Rutgers University (New Jersey, USA) who examined the relationships among child feeding practices, infant nutritional status, and child morbidity and mortality rates in Zimbabwe.

Hematology Study: Between 1988 and 1989, the Trust supported the seminal work of Dr. Victor Gordeuk, who discovered that the steel drums used in beer brewing were partially responsible for the large number of cases of liver disease in Zimbabwe. This research finding inspired further research.

BRTI : The Biomedical Research an Training Institute was founded in 1995 through support from the trust. In 2001 BRTI relocated to its permanent home on the University of Zimbabwe campus.The trust funded renovations of the site to suit its new role in training skilled researchers and medical technologists as well as developing a site for physicians and medical researchers from other countries to do basic science and clinical research. The library and lecture hall have were dedicated in the name of Dr Rebecca Robbins-Polland in recognition to her vision and contribution to BRTI and medical research in Zimbabwe as a whole.

IES: Together with NCR (formerly National Cash Register), the Kapnek Trust contributed funds for the development of the Institute of Environmental Studies at the University of Zimbabwe. The Institute, now an integral part of the University of Zimbabwe, supports research on key environmental issues, advises governmental officials and land-use planners, explores linkages between environmental issues and human health to inform policy decisions, and develops environmental education programs for the public.

AIDS in Zimbabwe: In the early years of the AIDS epidemic (1986-1990), the Trust was the first donor to fund AIDS-related research that led to the publication of important scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals. These included an investigation of the incidence of HIV/ AIDS among factory workers in Zimbabwe, a study of Kaposi’s sarcoma in people with AIDS, the HIV Lymphadenopathy Project, and the study of Intra-Cranial Space Occupying Lesions, which examined the neurological manifestations of AIDS. This body of research became the basis of substantial research studies later funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Zimbabwean Journal of Veterinary Medicine: In 1986 the Trust gave a five-year grant to this journal, a key publication of the School of Veterinary Medicine in Zimbabwe that serves the nine nations of Southern Africa.