Zambia News

The 24th meeting of the African Regional Certification Commission for Poliomyelitis Eradication (ARCC) which was held in Lusaka from 16-20 September 2019 has come to a close. During the closing ceremony, the ARCC Chairperson Professor Rose Leke announced that the Commission had accepted the complete documentation of Equatorial Guinea and South Africa on their polio free status and congratulated the Chairpersons of the National Certification Committees and all who had contributed to this achievement at country level.

More than 90 international delegates representing 22 countries are gathering in Livingstone, Zambia, this week for a three-day global meeting to improve access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in hospitals and health centres.

Globally, an estimated 896 million people use health care facilities lacking water services and 1.5 billion use facilities with no sanitation services. More than 1 million deaths each year are associated with births in unsanitary conditions and infections account for 26 per cent of neonatal deaths and 11 per cent of maternal mortality.

Zambia is in the process of joining other countries in the world by establishing the Emergency Medical Teams Initiative (EMT), a global programme which was created by the World Health Organization to enhance preparedness and promote the rapid deployment and efficient coordination of Emergency medical teams during disasters, outbreaks and other emergencies with a bearing on human health.

On 11 July 2019, Zambia commemorated the World No Tobacco Day to advocate for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption and to engage stakeholders across multiple sectors in the tobacco control.

Malaria is among the important factors affecting socio-economic development in Zambia. It kills approximately over a thousand people per year with about 311 cases per 1000 population. Despite the government’s increased domestic funding and good external support to the malaria programme, resource gaps remain. This has necessitated the development of an investment case, continued advocacy for increased resources and creation of awareness in the communities to accelerate malaria elimination efforts.

On 9 April 2019 Zambia commemorated the World Health Day under the global theme of Universal Health Coverage. The commemoration had a particular focus on Primary Health Care as a means for advancing progress on achieving the 2030 SDG target on Universal Health Coverage under Goal number 3 on health. The commemoration was held under the local theme: “Universal Health Coverage, my responsibility”.

The United Nations in Zambia has welcomed the launch of the Zambia Ending AIDS and Free to Shine Campaigns by the First Lady of the Republic of Zambia, Mrs Esther Lungu which took place on the 11 of April 2019 in the City of Livingstone. The “Free to Shine campaign” is an initiative of the wives of African Heads of State who have come forward to end Child AIDS and keeping mothers alive as part of their contribution towards the global goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.  

The Ministry of Health launched the guidelines for Management of Latent Tuberculosis (TB) Infection during the 2019 World TB Day commemoration to strengthen the treatment of the disease at primary care level. The guidelines are meant to contribute to further reduction of TB cases in the country and support efforts towards its elimination. Although TB is preventable and curable, it has continued to be a major cause of ill-health and death in the country. The disease is also the commonest opportunistic infection among people living with HIV.

The Zambian government has committed itself to ending cholera by the year 2025 through the validation of the national multi-sectoral cholera elimination plan for the period 2019 to 2025. Four cabinet ministers signed a pledge of commitment to end cholera in the country at the closing ceremony of a workshop which was organized by the Ministry of Health to finalise and validate the cholera elimination plan. The multi-sectoral cholera elimination plan will be used to mobilise resources and guide the strategies and activities to be implemented in the country in order to eliminate cholera.