Newly classified as a lower middle income country by the World Bank, Zambia is one of Africa’s most urbanised countries, with more than 35% of its 13 million people living in towns and cities. It’s a country rich in natural resources, yet unemployment is high and millions continue to live in poverty.
Zambia has seen some progress in reducing its HIV prevalence rates and malaria related cases and deaths, but these poverty related diseases continue to have a devastating affect on the country and ultimately affects its economic growth.
Environment: Zambia’s high levels of poverty are widely attributed to poor agricultural yields exacerbated by erratic weather patterns and regular climatic shocks such as droughts and floods.
Extractive industries: economic growth in Zambia continues to be driven by the mining sector. Yet ordinary Zambians get fewbenefits from the lucrative copper industry, with the government managing to collect just 14% of its GDP in tax. This has a massive impact on the amount they can spend on healthcare – just 4.8% of their GDP.
HIV and malaria: one in four outpatient cases is due to malaria, which takes a huge toll on the government’s limited health budget. A million Zambians are living with HIV. Young people living in poverty are especially vulnerable to HIV and with 50% of Zambians less than 15 years of age, the risk of cases increasing remains high.
Gender inequality: gender based violence is a serious social issue with almost 50% of women aged over 15 having experienced violence and abuse.
Our work
Christian Aid has been working in Zambia since the late 1980s. In 2011, Christian Aid became part of the Joint Country Programme for Zambia (JCPZ), a merger with sister organisations – Norweigan Church Aid, Dan Church Aid and Christian Aid.
Our work focuses on the following:
The JCPZ works with both faith-based and secular partners, challenging the churches to use their influence on both the government and the church-going Zambian public to influence social change as well as influencing the national agenda towards transparency and accountability of the state to its citizens.
Our partners
An important partner for the JCPZ, the Centre for Trade and Policy Development (CTPD) is a trade policy think tank which promotes equitable, pro-poor trade policy and practices. Christian Aid is working closely with CTPD to help Zambians get a fair deal from mining companies exploiting their country’s resources.
We work directly with the Zambia Anglican Council (ZAC) on its Cross Border Malaria Initiative in four districts along Zambia’s borders with Angola and Namibia. Part funded by philanthropists JC Flowers and Neville Isdell, this ambitious project aims to reduce malaria prevalence by 40% in its target areas.
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