Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Zambia
next door from botswana in Zambia, the situation is not any better. In 2007, more
than 17 percent of Zambians were thought to be living with HIv/aIDS (United States
President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief [PEPFAR] 2008). There have been at
least 800 000 cases of death as a result of aIDS-related illnesses and a further 710 000
children orphaned since 2006. It is projected that by 2015, aIDS will have taken the
lives of at least 2.8 million Zambians, an 83 percent increase
(Garbus 2003). by 2050
6.2 million Zambians are expected to have died from aIDS-related illnesses since
the virus first appeared in the early 1980s (Garbus 2003). The disease is believed
to have spread throughout the country, particularly in urban areas, hitting the most
vulnerable groups hard, namely young women and girls. the HIv prevalence rate
among antenatal women tested in major cities increased from 5 percent in 1985 to
27 percent in 1992, and has remained at that level ever since (UnaIDS 2004).
In terms of the impact of the virus on the country's macroeconomy, the
International Labor Organization (ILO) projects that the country will experience
a loss of up to 5.8 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) per capita; of this
percentage, there will be a loss of 1.7 percent to the capital/labour ratio, 1.0 percent
to total factor productivity, and 3.1 percent to aggregate skills and knowledge of
the workforce (cited in Garbus 2003). It also projects that Zambia will shed some
19.9 percent of its labour force by 2020, compared to what it would have been without
HIv/aIDS. to deal with the effects of the disease in recent years, the Zambian
government has sought the assistance of donor communities, the private sector, and
state resources. It has received financial assistance over the years from a number
or sources, including some US$42 million from the world bank's Multi-country
HIv/aIDS Program for africa, a grant of US$18.5 million from the U.S. agency
for International Development (USaID) in 2002 to help support the national HIv/
aIDS programme, and an additional US$92 million in grants from the Global Fund
to Fight aIDS, tuberculosis, and Malaria in 2002 for HIv/aIDS prevention and
global HIv/aIDS pandemic earmarked millions of dollars for HIv/aIDS prevention
and treatment programmes in Zambia. In 2007, USaID's programme in the country
provided the government with more than US$116 million, using PePFar funding.
2
Meanwhile, the Zambian government restructured the national HIv/aIDS/
StD/tb council, established in 2000, to serve as the single, high-level body
responsible for technical and national leadership, effective coordination of all
government and civil intervention, and strategic management. In 2002, Parliament
passed the
HIV/AIDS Act
, which allowed the council to solicit funding. Since late
2003, the council has been shaped by a strategic framework designed to increase
the distribution of art to HIv-positive patients, de-stigmatise HIv/aIDS,
promote community-based support to orphans, reduce high-risk behaviour (such as
unprotected sex and multiple partners), promote behavioural change that includes
abstinence and mutual fidelity, and introduce multi-sectoral responses to cope with
the onslaught of the disease.
