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Zambia

Robin Meldrum
Zambia has one of the fastest growing populations in the world, but economic growth and major investments in the country have failed to improve the lives of most Zambians, with two-thirds still living in poverty.

Unlike it's neighbours, Zambia has managed to avoid war and upheaval in its post-colonial years, earning itself a reputation for political stability.The landlocked country has experienced rapid economic growth over the last decade as Africa's second largest copper producer, after the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, its over-reliance the resource has made Zambia vulnerable to falling commodity prices.

Having first worked in Zambia in 1999, MSF handed over its medical activities to the Zambian Ministry of Health in 2013. We returned in 2016 to support the Ministry of Health in response to a cholera epidemic. 

Economic growth and major investments in the country have failed to improve the lives of most Zambians, with two-thirds still living in poverty.

Around 1.2 million people live in overcrowded informal settlements in the capital, Lusaka.

 

A member of the MSF vaccination team provides a single dose of the oral cholera vaccine in Self Help Center, one of the 15 sites used by MSF in the district of Kanyama for a massive cholera vaccination campaign in Lusaka. © Laurence Hoenig / MSF

Cholera is a major public health issue in Zambia, with epidemics typically occurring during the rainy season.

During the cholera outbreak of 2016, MSF distributed oral vaccines to over 400,000 people. More than one hundred MSF and Ministry of Health staff, as well as 1,700 volunteers, worked in the vaccination campaign, while the Ministry of Health provided care for patients in cholera treatment centres and worked to improve sanitation and hygiene conditions.

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