InterPress News Service (IPS) - August 20, 1998
Anthony Mukwita

But Mwenya is far from happy. He was recently diagnosed with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus(HIV), which causes the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

Zambia's educated and young are among the majority of those dying from AIDS, according to a recent report by the Zambian Central Board of Health, with assistance from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

The report states that at least 1.8 million Zambians will die from HIV/AIDS by the year 2010. This will have a negative impact on the economy, the report adds, because the country is losing needed human resources, mainly young and women. "AIDS exists among the economic elite, the best educated people with the highest paying jobs...," the report says. As a result, the quantity and quality of labour and overall production will, in the future, fall, because most people in influential positions will either be sick or taking care of their sick relatives, the report adds.

The study also predicts a crisis in the health care of people suffering from HIV/AIDS. Government expenditure on health alone is predicted to be around 21 million U.S. Dollars in 2005, because of the AIDS pandemic.

However, Zambia's health centres nationwide, only receive about one billion Kwachas (about one million U.S. dollars) annually to combat all illnesses, including HIV/AIDS.

"Since most households are poor and the government social services are run down and short of resources, Zambia is especially badly placed to bear the cost and burden of HIV/AIDS in an equitable manner," the report says.

According to a recent United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) study, the average Zambian lives on one U.S. Dollar per day.

The average monthy wage for most Zambians is between 40-50 U.S. Dollars, making it almost impossible for people to cater for their basic needs. The staple food maize meal, for example, costs between 13,000-15,000 Kwachas. One U.S. dollar is equivalent to 2000 Kwachas.

HIV/AIDS treatment is far beyond the reach of most Zambians. The cocktail drug treatment in this Southern African country averages about 15,000 U.S. Dollars per year for one patient.

Dr Rose Kumwenda, Executive Director of the Health Management Board, points out that: "By the time crypotococal meningitis, which is an HIV-related complex is controlled, the hospital would have spent no less than one million Kwacha on one patient."

Ministry of Health figures show that 1.2 million people in Zambia were infected with HIV by 1997 and the numbers continue to rise. Of those infected with the virus, 950,000 are adults and about 70,000 are children.

By 1995, more than 200,000 people had died from AIDS, and health predictions reveal that 1.8 million Zambians are likely to die from the disease between 1995-2010. (END/IPS/am/pm/98)

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