Zambia Proves Resilient Amid USAID Exit

World Health Organisation (WHO) Country Representative for Zambia, Clement Lasuba, says the withdrawal of USAID funding will not lead to a shortage of HIV treatment as the Global Fund will continue to support Zambia.

Speaking on ZNBC’s Sunday Interview, Lasuba said Zambia was already adapting to address the hiccups created by the USAID funding withdrawal.

“Services [in terms of funding towards HIV/ AIDs support] will continue. One, is that the Global Fund has not stopped its support to Zambia. The Global Fund will still continue supporting Zambia. The suspension of aid happened, but there are already commodities in the country which are supposed to continue. What is required now is just integrating, which the ministry is doing now, integrating these services so that people who are on treatment should not miss the treatment. So there was a hiccup in the beginning, but the government is adapting to address these hiccups,” he said.

Lasuba also applauded the government for employing and increasing the number of health workers across Zambia.

“One thing that I want to congratulate the government of Zambia for it for being on the trajectory to achieve the 15 percent Abuja target, which was declared by governments almost over 20 years ago. The government of Zambia already contributes about 12 percent to the health sector, but also some more money goes to CDF, which builds maternity wards and infrastructure.”

When asked where Zambia had gone wrong in the use of aid, Lasuba said the country had done nothing wrong.

“No government went wrong; the government of Zambia did not go wrong. So, if the Americans are stopping their money, the question we must ask ourselves is why are we being impacted so heavily? Aid has been there for some time; perhaps this is an opportunity to get out of aid dependency, and it is possible.”

Meanwhile, Lasuba also stated that while the withdrawal of US funding had taken many by surprise, there was a need for countries to reassess their health sectors.

“I think we should not underestimate the potential of Africa to be able to stand on its own… The withdrawal of US funding has taken many countries by surprise, but we need to look at the impact and how we look at our health sectors.”

He concluded by reiterating his praise for the Zambian government’s efforts to strengthen healthcare despite funding uncertainty.

“I would like to congratulate the government of Zambia for employing and increasing the number of health workers. The situation in other countries is that they are still expecting brain drain. But we also thank the capacity of governments to recruit and motivate workers. Here in Zambia, I am very happy with what is happening in increasing the health workforce,” said Lasuba.

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