The Sunday Mail
Sunday Mail Reporter
National Hero and Health Advisor to the President Dr Timothy Stamps, who died last week after battling lung infection, will be cremated in Harare on Wednesday.
A memorial service is slated for Celebration Centre, Harare.
Health and Child Care Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa said Dr Stamps (81) was a national hero though his cremation would be a private ceremony and not a public one at the National Heroes Acre.
“There will be a private burial because in line with the family’s culture and customs; they will cremate his body,” said Dr Parirenyatwa.
Dr Stamps worked for the Salisbury (now Harare) Municipality health department and rose through the ranks to become chief medical officer.
He strove to give black people improved health access, much to the chagrin of racist Rhodesian authorities.
Dr Stamps was appointed Minister of Health from 1990 to 2002, and played a pivotal role in the fight against HIV and Aids.
In 1999, he led a pioneering local initiative to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV; and his overall efforts saw the creation of the National Aids Council through an Act of Parliament.
In 2004, Dr Stamps founded the Dr Timothy Stamps Trust for people living with chronic conditions to ease t?he burden of non-communicable diseases.
He is survived by wife, Cindy, six children and eight grandchildren.
