Fight Poverty in Zambia

A few years after independence in 1964, Zambia was one of the most prosperous nations in Africa. Unfortunately, its prosperity was almost entirely due to its rich deposits of copper found in the border region between northern Zambia and the southern Democratic Republic of Congo. When the bottom fell out of the copper industry, the advancements in Zambia’s economy fell with it. Today, the country is among one of the poorest nations in the world. Although it is still Africa’s second-largest copper producer, it ranks among the countries with highest level of income inequality globally.

Zambia is one of the most unequal countries in the world. In 2018, The World Bank estimated 149 countries on a scale of 0 to 100 in terms of income inequality. Zambia was ranked the fourth most unequal country in the world. More than half the country still lives below the national poverty line and most of the nation’s wealth remains in the hands of a small elite. The contrast between rich and poor is most evident in rural Zambia, where 80.5% of people live below the poverty line.

The food situation in Zambia is on the verge of a crisis. A recent report has said that Zambia is one step away from famine. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), the 2018/2019 farming season in the southern half of Zambia experienced drought conditions that have resulted in significant crop losses and poor harvests. An estimated 2.3 million people, representing 25% of the rural population, are now in need of emergency humanitarian assistance.

The struggle for clean water and effective sanitation. Poor families in Zambia have little access municipal water systems. Instead, most rural villagers are forced to rely on shallow open wells, dirty trenches and unprotected hand-dug pits for their water and these are often infested with frogs and insect larvae. Poor water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) are the main causes of infections like diarrhea, typhoid and dysentery — which weaken most and can even lead to fatalities among the elderly and young children.

A second and related problem for these rural villagers is poor sanitation. Few homes have access to toilets and outdoor defecation is common, which leads to infectious diseases. Families are also tempted to cook with dirty water, dry dishes without clean racks, and skip hand-washing because they lack easy access to clean abundant water.

Zambia’s high rate of child stunting is in part a result of poor sanitation. Research indicates that adequate sanitation can decrease the risk of stunting. In Zambian schools, lack of access to adequate water supply, sanitation and washing facilities negatively affects students and contributes to high dropout rates, especially among girls.