Zambia News

Lusaka, 28 November 2023 – Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), has been honoured with the prestigious CPHIA Lifetime Achievement Award in Public Health for his unwavering commitment to advancing global health and his transformative leadership during unprecedented crises.  

Dr Tedros received the award at the 3rd International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA) opening ceremony in Lusaka on 27 November 2023. 

In a momentous event at the Kitwe Teaching Hospital grounds, healthcare professionals, patients and community members joined the Ministry of Health, WHO and partner organizations to commemorate World Patient Safety Day on September 17, 2023. Under the theme “Engaging Patients for Patient Safety,” the day’s activities emphasized the crucial role that patients, families and caregivers play in ensuring their own safety and that of others within the healthcare system.

In a significant stride towards strengthening global health security, Zambia successfully concluded its second Joint External Evaluation (JEE) of the International Health Regulations (IHR) core capacities, using the cutting-edge JEE 3.0 tool on 6 October 2023. The comprehensive assessment was conducted from 2 to 6 October 2023 at the Radisson Blu in Livingstone, by twelve external evaluators lead by Dr Allan Mpairwe of the WHO Regional Hub.  

In a step to enhance public health preparedness and protecting the population from emerging zoonotic diseases, Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in collaboration with the Zambia National Public Health Institute (ZNPHI), WHO and other partners held a three-day workshop for the One Health Zoonotic Disease Prioritization (OHZDP) – Zambia from 24 to 26 July, in Livingstone.

In a significant step towards strengthening Zambia’s health system and improving healthcare services and patient experiences, WHO HQ in collaboration with the WHO Country Office successfully trained a team of health professionals on the implementation of the Patient-Reported Experience Measures (PREMS) pilot study. 

In the wake of several public health events that have unfolded in the recent past and, following the key findings of the WHO coordinated Joint External Evaluation (JEE) of 2017, the Zambia National Public Health Institute (ZNPHI) in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and WHO conducted a dissemination meeting of the Zambia Multi-hazard Emergency, Preparedness and Response Plan. 

The Ministry of Health, with support from WHO convened the health cooperating partners and key sectors including law enforcement and academia for a five-day meeting in Kabwe to review and validate the new medicines policy in a bid to enhance the pharmaceutical system in the country. 

On 10 July 2023, a partner monitoring field visit was conducted in Eastern Province to assess the progress and impact of the WHO Enhancing National Capacity for Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery and the Health System Surveillance Project funded by the Irish Embassy in Zambia.

The field visit aimed to provide our donors an insight into the project’s implementation and firsthand information on successes made, the challenges and impact of their contribution on strengthening Zambia’s health system surveillance. 

Zambia like many other countries is leveraging the many opportunities that digital technologies provide to prioritize and improve health service delivery across communities. To help further advance this agenda, the Commonwealth Secretariat in collaboration with WHO, Ministry of Health and the Commonwealth Centre for Digital Health hosted a three-day workshop on enhancing digital health maturity in Zambia.  

The Government of the Republic of Zambia has renewed its commitment to end Obstetric Fistula as a public health problem in the country by the year 2030. On May 23, 2023, Zambia commemorated the International Day for Elimination of Obstetric Fistula (IDEOF) under the theme, “20 Years on - Progress but not enough! Act Now to End Fistula by 2030.” It was at the same event that the Ministry of Health officially launched the National Obstetric Fistula Strategic Plan for the period 2022 to 2026.