University of Zambia Medical Library

HIV/AIDS in Zambia: May 1998

"Churches Told To Look After the Welfare Of the Vulnerable.
Times of Zambia: May 27, 1998

Government has appealed to churches to evolve programmes aimed at assisting the vulnerable groups in society including the victims of the HIV/AIDS and unemployed. Government has also said the religious desk at State House is all-encompassing and not meant for Christianity alone.

Deputy Minister-in-Charge of the Religious Desk at State House, Peter Chintala said this in an interview in Lusaka. Reverend Chintala said Government appreciated the role of the church in assisting the people who were afflicted with poverty, unemployment and HIV/AIDS during the current days of harsh economic reality. He said extended families were breaking up under harsh economic conditions making it imperative for the churches to take over the roles of assisting victims of unemployment and disease.

"Even in the biblical times, there were no NGOs and people looked forward to the church to look after widows, orphans, the poor and so on. The problems of the church today are different from say 20 years ago given rampant retrenchments and deaths from AIDS," said Rev Chintala. He expressed Government commitment to work with churches that were involved in assisting the poor.

"We have a lot to do between the church and Government due to the nature of the problems people are facing today," said Rev Chintala. On his State House desk, Rev Chintala said it had been misconstrued as a facility for Christianity only. "The problem is that the declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation has also been misunderstood by some people. The Constitution does not exclude other religions by making this declaration. "In fact I do meet Muslims, Hindus, the Bahais and so on, and the relationship with them is very good indeed," he said.

In another development, Rev Chintala said he planned to visit Choma Secondary School which had recently been dogged by reports of witchcraft and satanic acts.

"AIDS: Behaviour Change Key." By Bwalya Nondo
Times of Zambia: May 23, 1998

The advent of HIV/AIDS more than a decade ago, was chronicled with myths about the incurable disease, ever faced by man. Oblivious of the disease pattern, society treated AIDS 'suspects' like lepers. For instance, shaking hands with one infected with HIV, let alone with full blown AIDS, is a thing many were not ready to do. The misconception that they would catch AIDS through a hand shake, lingered with prominence in many people.

Over the years, increased flow of information and awareness on HIV/AIDS, its mode of transmission, and prevention in picturesque language, has to an appreciable extent, helped to knock down misplaced notions about the disease. The courage by those infected with the virus to come out in the open, has also given the fight against the disease, a new lease of impetus. However, although the quotient of the information and awareness about HIV/AIDS has shot up from death levels, the high rate of infection suggests that positive behaviour change, the key to control HIV/AIDS, is far from being satisfactory.

"HIV/AIDS in Zambia," a publication by the central board of health, states that, nearly one out of every five adults is infected. This represents close to 20 per cent of the adult population in the country. The publication reveals that 300 adults become infected everyday, and that more than 70,000 have the virus that causes AIDS.

Although the figures are mere projections, they send a clear signal, that AIDS is still an uphill battle to fight. Its social, political, economic and health consequences cannot be ignored. Despite all the dazzling beliefs about AIDS having been 'cleared' with a view of "enticing" people to adopt a penchant for behaviour that forestalls infection, the trend on the ground is different. With poverty the in-thing, the instinct for survival has had a bearing on the spread of the lethal disease. The golden rule for those infected with the virus is positive-living. Split into detail, this means, adopting behaviour comparable with good health. Good diet, protected sex or abstinence, avoiding smoking and keeping a distance from alcohol, plus emotional balance, make up the core of positive living. For the infected, this helps to prolong life and control further spread of the disease.

The community generally acknowledges the need to join hands in fighting the stigma, attached to AIDS. But the understanding of 'positive living' is somewhat off the mark. Many think that only those who are HIV positive should live 'positively'. But living positive is also for those who are negative. Or those not sure of their sero-status, not to live 'dangerously' as to risk getting infected, and pass on the virus to others.

Joseph Katele, a 26 year old commonwealth youth programme (CYP) positive living Ambassador, and member of the Network of Zambia people living with HIV/AIDS in his testimony to a recent training workshop for university of Zambia students, in HIV/AIDS and reproductive health, at CYP, was quick to point out that , positive living was not only for confirmed HIV cases. He stressed that it was everyone's business to control AIDS by avoiding risky behaviour if they were negative, or by taking necessary precautions if they were already infected, to avoid spreading the virus to others. Katele gave a heart-rending account of how he fell out of university in 1993 while pursuing a BA degree in Business Administration at Copperbelt university. He was treated like an outcast by his family. Katele believes it is important to give AIDS a human face if it has to be fought effectively.

"I had initially lost interest in life but after getting more information about AIDS, I changed the way I looked at life, and decided to come out in the open to fight the disease visibly," he said. Katele who had an infatuating love affair with a girl who later died of AIDS, observed that AIDS still thrived on secrecy. He prodded more people to come out in the open and declare their positive sero-status in order to fight the disease more effectively. "Although social stigma is being fought, we need to discuss the subject more openly. I would encourage more people to go for HIV tests, and if positive, come out in the open." advised Katele who has since gained emotional stability, and is fairly healthy.

Katele eager to set foot back in university, to finish his studies appealed to well-wishers for financial assistance. To him, nothing will be more fulfilling than obtaining his BA in Business Administration. Katele said it was important for people going into relationships to tell their partners the truth about their sero-status, to avoid courting 'disaster'. He warned people against being hoodwinked that there was a cure for AIDS because only immune boosters were available at the moment.

"Don't allow people to cheat you out of your money. What they can treat are only infections not AIDS," he asserted, demanding that, HIV infected people should participate in any trials on AIDS drugs. Stressing positive living, whether HIV positive or negative, Katele said intensified information outreach into the community to get people talk more about AIDS, would mop out traces of stigma still rooted in society. Participants and facilitators to the two weeks workshop sponsored by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) echoed sentiments that AIDS is the business of everyone. Katele stole the admiration of many for his candid account about his life as an HIV positive person.

"AIDS is the concern of all of us. Positive living should also be about people who have not had tests. No one should stigmatise AIDS because you never know your condition tomorrow," cautioned Judy Zeko, a Law student. Lizz Mwansa a second year public administration students nodded in agreement.

The students were milled through a two weeks programme. This was to prepare them for community work in HIV/AIDS and reproductive health, awareness outreach. The students pledged to empty their information bags and give out every available bits and pieces about what they had learnt, to their peers. They are eager to evoke the right attitude to AIDS, and aid to birth, more effective and sustainable control measures. After all, prevention is better than cure.

"AIDS: A Threat to Global Economy." By Paradious Sakala
The Daily Mail: May 20, 1998

HIV/AIDS is one of the dreaded diseases for which doctors throughout the world are still struggling to find a cure. Who is to blame for this ever growing number of AIDS infections? Is it the governments, the media or society itself?

Shock gripped Sign Phiri (not real name) a civil servant when he learnt that he was HIV positive. Phiri's predicament started when he started going to hospital for TB treatment two years ago. During the treatment, his health took a nose-dive. He looked lanky, lean, and generally emaciated and his hair looked coiled light like that of a newly born baby. Indeed, when the news that Phiri was HIV+ spread at his workplace, he was subjected to isolation and desertion. His health deteriorated even further. No man's eye stood the sight of Phiri. And ostracism was at play. His friends deserted him. His children could not stand the mockery and ridicule at school. They regarded their father's bad health as a shame.

But his wife never took her husband's fate seriously. She thought the doctor's findings were unfounded because her health was in top form. She was not even a TB case. She was physically fit. So how possible was it that her husband had AIDS? Little did she realise that Phiri would die in a short while. She clung to her "see no evil, hear no evil" attitude even when her husband's health was getting worse. Since Phiri was the breadwinner for his family and the only one in formal employment, there was a growing belief among them that he might have been bewitched.

Phiri finally died. His family still nursing the misery that his death had brought on, they, agreed to consult a witchfinder who told them their breadwinner must have been bewitched by his workmates. It was easier for them to believe a witch doctor than a medical doctor. Indeed this is the common attitude in many African societies where superstition is rife. It is hard to accept that anyone can die of AIDS.

While the skepticism on AIDS continues, the epidemic taking its toll as the number of AIDS patients continues to swell, especially in Africa, more so Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Of the 30.6 million people around the world leaving with the virus, 20.8 million live in the SSA region, according to a United Nations report. Medical experts working with the United Nations have estimated that 9.7 million people in the SSA had died of AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic in the 1970's. The report states that a total of 740,000 deaths were recorded in South East Asia, 420,000 in Latin America and 190,000 in Western Europe.

So for this ever growing number of AIDS infections, who is to blame? The governments, media or the society itself? Critics believe that in many developing nations, the bureaucracy in government circles affects the fight against the epidemic. In many cases AIDS issues have not been part on the debates in parliament and how best the scourge could be tackled. It will be difficult to win the fight against AIDS because many of the anti-AIDS projects in the country are carried out by the civil society (NGOs) who are donor funded. Governments don't specifically include in their annual national budgets funds for HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns.

As long as traditional norms -- the "sacredness" of talking about sex between parents and their children goes on, society will continue to lose talented personalities. There is a case of a Lusaka rural gentleman who believes that there is no way he can use condoms. He had tattooed himself never to prevent any sexually transmitted disease. So he always had unprotected sex. And there is this, "behind every death there is a witch," attitude which seems to contradict medical findings.

And then there is a continuous dependence on government to tackle everything with regards to AIDS and yet society can embark on their own awareness campaigns. It would do the country more good than harm if AIDS patients accept their predicament and begin to educate others to take precautions. But alas, when someone is told about his fate, they do not bother to take precautions and the spread of the disease continues. While there is this English saying that "to forewarn is to forearm," in many developing nations, the mass media have proven to be a failure. The mass media being the society's watchdog, do more political watch than health watch.

Hence it has forgotten its role that a well informed country is a healthy one. And that there are some people who might not have died had they been informed about the epidemic. But what happens in the media is that they would rather dedicate space to scandalous stories. Much of the media contributions are for the elite and mostly confined to urban areas. But what prevails today is that the media has adopted foreign languages as a mode of communication. And in Zambia there is no language press which but almost all the neighbouring countries have got the language press which makes communication easier.

In the Western world, life prolonging drugs cost about US $10,000 per person annually while in the developing country, a person spends US$20 per year, UN medical experts say. So this means only the well to do will afford the medicine and government needs to fill the gap for the poor. Botswana, despite its low population, between a quarter and a third of the reproductive age is infected with AIDS. Specialists generally agree that Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Zambia and Swaziland and Kenya all have higher rates of infection, making them the world's six most infected countries. New data from studies in Tanzania and Uganda show that well over half the people who reach voting age can expectto die before retirement.

Between the ages 25-35, four deaths in five are HIV-related, although the stigma attached to the disease has prevented even people involved in fighting it from acknowledging it as a cause of death. Of all the SSA countries, Uganda has been singled out to be the only country succeeding with its anti-AIDS campaign. Uganda was one of the first countries to be badly affected by HIV. By the time president Yoweri Museveni came into power 12 years ago, people expected the country's problems including AIDS, tackled head on. Quantities of public information and condoms have helped halve the infection rate among young urban Ugandans since the beginning of the decade.

The press played a very vital role. Many youth magazines that sold like hot cakes talked at length on positive attitudes towards AIDS. The ramifications of AIDS are not only social, but also economical. According to "SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ISSUES of HIV/AIDS" in Southern Africa, a book edited by Helen Jackson, the Zambian economy should grow from US$4.1 billion in 1998 to US $5.5 billion in 2000 under normal circumstances. However, with AIDS taking its toll, Zambia's Gross Domestic Product has been estimated to fall by nine per cent below the lowest sustained level reaching US $5 billion by 2000 with per capita income at US$494 or four percent lower than the baseline (the lowest sustainable level).

In Tanzania reductions in average real GDP growth rates of between 15 and 28 percent are expected due to the rising number of workers with AIDS. Low productivity could occur in Botswana, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, where statistics indicate an upward trend of new AIDS infections. "AIDS is increasingly a threat to the global market economy," says Peter Piot, executive director of the UN programme on HIV/AIDS. The disease, he says, has already slowed down economic growth in Kenya, and it is likely to affect other countries' output too. China, India and Thailand, for instance, were likely to replicate the experience of SSA in a few years time.

UN estimates that 2.3 million people around the world will die of AIDS this year, an increase of more than 50 percent much higher that the 1996 estimate of 1.5 million deaths. New World Health Organisation tables indicate that of 5.8 million people newly infected with the AIDS virus this year, four million are in SSA, 1.3 million are in South Asia and South East Asia, and 30,000 are in Western Europe. About 10 percent of all the new infections are in children under-15 and more than half of the remainder are in the 15 to 24 age group. Going by these frightening figures very few people could be spared by the disease.

Not long ago, Health Minister Pro. Nkandu Luo confirmed that in Zambia there are at least 35,000 people affected by HIV/AIDS. However, the battle against AIDS could be won only if and when there is political will. Governments should take a pivotal role while donor funding should only supplement their efforts.

"World Vision Targets Truck Drivers in Anti-AIDS Drive." By Fred Simposya
Times of Zambia: May 19, 1998

Two years ago, he made news in Zambia when he walked 800km from the capital city Lusaka to the copper mining town of Kitwe and back within five days as his contribution to HIV/AIDS awareness. Spurred by the death of his sister from AIDS, Cyrus Phiri, then 36, overcame blisters and a nagging knee injury to limp/sprint to the finish line. Today, 38-year-old Cyrus has folded his arm sleeves and turned his passion to working with long distance truck drivers, educating them on the dangers of the incurable disease.

For three weeks in a month, he is on the road meeting them at their stations, talking to commercial sex workers and hosting workshops for them and whoever cares to listen. For Cyrus, being assigned to the HIV/AIDS high transmission area was the greatest moment. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) funded project covers towns between Nakonde and Kapiri Mposhi which have become high transmission areas for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

"It is exciting and fulfilling to be right in the middle of the action. It means a lot of things have been entrusted in me by the World Vision." Through the project, he has been able to deal directly with truck drivers and help train some of them as peer educators to speak to fellow truck drivers on the dangers of HIV/AIDS. "The programme has a great impact on the communities we are dealing with. Through the numerous workshops we have been holding we have targeted church leaders, commercial sex workers. All this has made the project a great success."

For the last 18 months Cyrus has worked with four members of the project to organise AIDS awareness campaigns, form anti-AIDS clubs and committees to spearhead the campaign. "It has been important for us to see the other side of life. To see AIDS patients, commercial sex workers and truck drivers and together map out a way for transformational development." The group's aim is to set standards, lead the way and walk together with the community eventually allowing them to go ahead. Cyrus says the results are not immediate for the work against AIDS because people's social life styles are slow to change in most cases. But this does not deter the group whose unwritten philosophy has been to influence even one person to change their ways.

Cyrus has an interest, a passion for the fight against AIDS. He saw his best friends die from AIDS just when it was discovered in Zambia and people were afraid to talk about it. In 1989, he lost his three childhood friends and a young brother to AIDS. His own sister died from AIDS in 1996, a few days before he was to go onthe AIDS run. "My heart is in this," he says. "It is a personal experience for me having lost a number of my friends. I know different people who've different conviction about AIDS. For me it is a battle and I have to come to terms with it."

He feels that a lot of people have been affected in one way or the other by the AIDS scourge and therefore it is a priority issue for him. "If we do not do anything about it, the entire fabric of society will be destroyed and there will be no strong nation, no future, no children. There has never been a disease that has shaken the world like HIV/AIDS and we have to fight it." Cyrus continues: "I believe the project needs all the support it can get so we can take the programme to all parts of Zambia according to the project proposal. UNDP has just extended the project for another six months from April to September after that I don't know."

Although he is so fired up about the project, the first few days were filled with uncertainty for him. "I was not sure how people were going to respond to our workshops and teaching materials that spoke against the very lives they were used to." There was another stumbling block. At that time society had put a stigma on all AIDS patients as promiscuous, hopeless and careless. During the first workshops, some participants shunned discussions. Others were uncomfortable or simply told the organisers they were time wasters. "I was not even sure the project would get an audience with truck drivers because they were so mobile. But the picture now is so encouraging. This job needs a lot of patience, tolerance and love. It is a compassionate call."

He firmly believes that if Jesus Christ were to walk on Zambian streets today, he would also join in the fight against AIDS. Cyrus has taken time during his busy schedules to continue his great passion - long distance running. If the run from Lusaka to Kitwe two years was his biggest challenge, he is itching to overcome and even greater hurdle: the Cape to Cairo race in aid of AIDS victims. "I am training hard for it and I trust that my dream to run from Cape to Cairo will turn into reality later in the year."

A tentative route would be to pass through eight countries. Each country would be asked to contribute a long distance runner or two to carry the baton. Cyrus believes he is in the right mental framework to venture into the adventure. "This marathon is so important because it will help establish links in support of the fight against the HIV/aids in countries that I will run through. It will unify African countries and remind them AIDS is a common problem. I am hoping it can help raise $ 10m towards the AIDS fight."

The organisation of such a run requires more work than it appears to be but he is confident it can be done. "I have just returned from an HIV study tour with the World Vision team. The National coordinator in Zimbabwe was very excited to hear about my dream race and they are ready to mobilise a participant to run with me," enthused Cyrus.

Cyrus explained that the run would be a World Vision Zambia initiative although it will involve other countries and interest groups. "Each day that passes by I feel I have not done much to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS. Great strides are being made in the medical field but we are falling short in the area of awareness," he said.

"Six Hundred Teachers Died In '97." By Sam Mujuda, Kema Kasalaba and Liseli Kayumba
Post: May 19, 1998

Zambia last year lost 600 teachers through death, many of them reportedly from HIV/AIDS related causes, disclosed education minister Godfrey Miyanda on Sunday night. Miyanda, speaking on the occasion of the memorial candlelight service organised by the Network of the People Living with HIV/AIDS at the Roma Cathedral, said the nation was losing so much talent.

"I am concerned. I direct the Ministry of Education to join in a big way, this war which must be won. We have to double our efforts. We shall support and work with the Ministry of Health to supplement their efforts," Miyanda said. "The mission of the Ministry of Education is 'to guide the provision of education for all Zambians so that they are able to pursue knowledge and skills, manifest excellence in performance and moral uprightness'." Miyanda said society had gone to sleep.

"Health Board Launches Probe Into Children's Mysterious Deaths." (Workshop for the Ambassadors for Youth Living with HIV/AIDS)
Times of Zambia: May 12, 1998

The Central Board of Health (CHB) has instituted investigations into the circumstances that led to the deaths of three children in Chingola District Hospital during a blood transfusion recently. Acting CHB director Gavin Silwamba in a statement in Lusaka at the weekend said the three children died in mysterious circumstances during the blood transfusion.

The three were aged four, one year and seven months. Dr Silwamba explained that investigations had been launched because this was a rare occurrence and the board had to establish the causes. Minister of Health Nkandu Luo had also sent messages of condolences to the bereaved families. And Government will continue supporting programmes to change the behaviour of the youth and promoting positive living for those who are HIV positive.

Sport, Youth and Child Development Minister William Harrington announced this in Lusaka during the opening of a five-day workshop for the Ambassadors for Youth Living with HIV/AIDS yesterday. In a speech read on his behalf by Permanent Secretary Gerald Nyirenda, Mr Harrington said HIV/AIDS had adverse implications on Zambia's economic, social, political and cultural development. Government was committed to supporting efforts addressing the scourge among the youth.

"The national youth policy recognises health as an important factor in the development of young people who are today's and future leaders," he said. He said through the HIV/AIDS desk at his ministry, Government would explore ways on how best people living with the virus could be assisted in their outreach work.

The workshop which is attended by University of Zambia (Unza) students and youths from other provinces is aimed at making people living with HIV/AIDS aware that they could still live positively. The Ambassadors of Positive Living intends to increase integration and acceptance of young people living with the virus.

"Government To Invest in AIDS Programmes that Target Youths." By Liseli Kayumba
The Post: May 12, 1998

The government has recognised the need to inject more resources in social development and particularly HIV/AIDS programmes that target youths, disclosed Ministry of Sport, Youth and Child Development permanent secretary Gerard Nyirenda yesterday. Nyirenda, speaking on behalf of the Minister of Sport, Youth and Child Development William Harrington at a follow up workshop of the young positive living with HIV/AIDS, said to this end government will support programmes that lead to behavioural change among the youths and pave the way for positive living among those with the virus.

He said national policy "recognised health as an important factor in the development of young people who are today's and future leaders of this nation". He commended the Commonwealth Youth Programme(CYP) for minimising prejudices, fear and stigma associated with those living with the HIV/AIDS virus. "Those living with the virus can still and must lead useful and productive lives," Nyirenda said, adding that through the HIV/AIDS desk at the ministry, government "will explore how best we could use these young positive living ambassadors in outreach work in our training centres, market places as well as schools and colleges".

The CYP has been co-ordinating the Young Positive Living Ambassadors Programme since 1993. "It has trained people on HIV/AIDS awareness, sexual reproduction and positive living issues and has carried out related activities in other countries in the region such as Ghana, Malawi, Malta and Uganda," CYP regional director Professor Richard Mkandawire said.

At a regional workshop held last year in September, it was decided to see how best the experiences of positive living ambassadors could be integrated into existing national AIDS prevention and care networks for the benefit of other young people. At the follow up workshop it is hoped that a plan of action for implementation and integration of the ambassador programme with other existing programmes can be formulated. This will in turn strengthen the national network for Zambian Positive Living People. Professor Mkandawire said the programme was demystifying the range of misconceptions about HIV/AIDS.

"Participants in the programme are "not just the ambassadors of positive living, but also the ambassadors of hope," he said. "Zambia has taken the lead in outreach programmes in the region. It is hoped that after the workshop, a tool kit for the ambassadors will be developed for replication in member countries."

"AIDS Test Worries Lusaka Prostitutes." By Likando Mulasikwanda
The Post: May 8, 1998

Prostitutes wishing to reform have expressed disappointment at the requirement to undergo an HIV/AIDS test before joining the reformed sex workers group, Tasintha. A member of the group, Vivien Chileshe, disclosed in an interview yesterday that she underwent an HIV/AIDS test before joining the Lusaka-based Non Governmental Organisation.

"At first it was said that we all undergo the tests but it did not work, but I can assure you that I went for the test of my free will," Chileshe said. But a sex worker, who prefered to be called only as Lucy, disclosed at the KARA councelling centre yesterday that she is apprehensive about joining Tasintha because of the requirement to undergo an HIV/AIDS test. "I want to reform and join my friends at Tasintha but I am scared because I don't want to be tested," Lucy said.

But Kara councellor, Stanely Chama, said in a seperate interview yesterday that a number of "ladies from the streets" visit the centre for counselling and testing but that most of them do not like to reveal their personal details. "We attend to many ladies from the streets and those from Tasintha but they never tell us their real details," Chama said. He, however, said that the centre will not insist on anyone giving their personal details.

In another development, Chama disclosed that the centre will hold a workshop for Positive Tested Member's club (PTC) on May 16 where all people living with AIDS will meet to discuss innovative issues on how they are to work as a team. "We are holding a work shop where all those with the HIV/ AIDS virus will meet to discus their future plans as a team," Chama said.

"HIV/AIDS Related Mental Sickness On Increase." By Liseli Kayumba
The Post: May 7, 1998

The prevalence of mental illness due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic has increased, disclosed Chainama Hills College Hospital director of clinical care/specialist psychiatrist Dr. Patrick C. Msoni yesterday. Dr. Msoni, in an interview, said this however, as in the case of child abuse, is a symptom of another problem rather than a case of mental illness.

He urged those who did not feel well to come in voluntarily. "Every general hospital in the country, except for Solwezi, has a psychiatric unit," Dr. Msoni said. He said incidence of mental illness are generally not on the increase in Zambia. Dr. Msoni explained that mental illness is a disease of the mind that can lead to disturbances in the thinking process, perception and feeling.

"Some of the diseases that fall under this category include mania, depression, schizophrenia and anxiety disorder," he said. "Most of the behaviour attributed to madness by the general public is in fact schizophrenia. Schizophrenics see and hear things that are not really there. Studies done show that schizophrenia levels are generally standard throughout the world."

Dr. Msoni said in both developed and developing countries, schizophrenia accounts for about 0.8 per cent of mental illnesses. "Only 10-15 per cent at most, of the people on Cairo Road suffer from mental illness. Of the 200 bed capacity that the hospital has, only 12-15 of them would be occupied by people from the streets," he said.

Dr. Msoni explained that it was not Chainama Hills College Hospital's responsibility to pick up the mentally unstable. "Family members or concerned members of the public can get a detention order from the magistrate court to enable the institution to determine if a person is mentally ill," he said. "Genuine patients are not turned away and only a minimal fee is demanded." He said people should not confuse abnormal personality development with mental illness.

"ZATULET Explains Increased TB Cases." By Kema Kasalaba
The Post: May 6, 1998

Increase in tuberculosis (TB) has been attributed to the negative socio-economic impact on the Zambian population by executive director of the newly formed Zambia Tuberculosis and Leprosy Trust (ZATULET), David Mondoka . In a statement released in Lusaka yesterday , Mondoka said, ZATULET has been formed due to the ever increasing number of TB cases as a result of worsened increase in HIV/AIDS.

"The negative socio-economic impact on the Zambian population is another factor that has worsened the TB cases," Mondoka said, adding that supplementing and complementing government efforts in case-finding, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and control of tuberculosis and leprosy was the main objective of ZATULET. Mondoka said current statistics showed that the number of TB cases were increasing unproportionately as compared to the other countries in the sub-region. He attributed the high rate of tuberculosis cases in Zambia to the dual infection with HIV and poverty and over-crowding. He said the mortality rate of cases on tuberculosis treatment increased from 2 to 3 per cent before the HIV era and to over 15 per cent in some areas of the country in recent years.

"The fact that 70 per cent and more of the adults in Zambia are infected with tuberculosis and that nearly one in every 200 Zambians gets tuberculosis each year should be a source of concern," Mondoka said. "Tuberculosis is ranked number six in Zambia as one of the deadly disease and yet tuberculosis control has one of the most cost-effective public health interventions, at par with the immunisations and oral dehydration strategies," Mondoka said.

He said government was over-strained and as a result could not effectively combat tuberculosis because of financial resources. "Lack of financial resources over-strained government and the low socio-economic status of the Zambian population as determinants, tuberculosis will continue spreading atrociously, affecting the quality of life of the Zambian population," he said.

Mondoka said the number of registered leprosy patients had steadily declined over the past years since the introduction of the Multiple Drug Therapy (MDT) from 10, 492 in 1986 to 790 in 1990. "There's need to identify and treat infectious leprosy patients as early as possible before the situation worsens," he said. "The worsening tuberculosis and leprosy scenario has caused government to institute tuberculosis and leprosy control programmes," said Mondoka.

Last updated May 29, 1998

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