28/01/2025
FOR THE SAKE OF 1.2 MILLION ZAMBIANS
Poor countries like Zambia cannot develop resilient health systems overnight due to deep-rooted challenges such as limited financial resources, over-reliance on external funding, and systemic gaps in infrastructure and workforce capacity.
For nearly two decades, programs like PEPFAR have been instrumental in bridging these gaps, providing life-saving support for HIV treatment, prevention, and healthcare system strengthening.
However, the abrupt freeze on PEPFAR funding exposes the fragility of Zambia’s healthcare system, which has long depended on external aid to sustain critical programs. Building a resilient health system requires time, deliberate planning, and consistent investment in training healthcare workers, strengthening supply chains, and ensuring access to essential medicines.
Without predictable support, Zambia risks reversing hard-won gains in its HIV response and faces significant challenges in ensuring universal healthcare access for its population.
Brief facts:
👉🏾 PEPFAR has enabled over 1.2 million Zambians to access free, life-saving antiretroviral treatment (ART), cutting HIV-related deaths in half and halting further transmission for 86% of those living with HIV.
👉🏾 The suspension threatens critical progress in HIV prevention, including mother-to-child transmission programs, which helped avert 12,000 infections in 2020, and support for women, who account for 26,000 new infections annually.
👉🏾 Provinces like Copperbelt (15.4% HIV prevalence) and Lusaka (15.1%) are at significant risk of overwhelmed clinics, preventable deaths, and surging new infections.
👉🏾 Vulnerable groups are hardest hit: only 60% of HIV-positive adolescents are on treatment, and condom use among teens remains critically low.
👉🏾 Women aged 15+ account for 26,000 new HIV infections annually, compared to 19,000 among men. Without ART, risks of mother-to-child transmission and partner infections will rise.
This is sad 😭