Maternal health

Unsafe abortion contributing to high maternal mortality

June 23, 2012 | Filed under: Local News | Posted by: web editor

By DOREEN NAWA
UNSAFE abortion is a significant contributor to high maternal mortality in Zambia, the Ministry of Health has observed.
In a speech read for him during a meeting on the findings of the operations research on unsafe abortion in Zambia this week, Minister of Health Joseph Kasonde said unsafe abortion contributes about 30 percent to maternal deaths in Zambia.
The research was conducted by IPAS, a global non-governmental organisation dedicated to ending preventable deaths and disabilities from unsafe abortion.
Dr Kasonde said it is imperative to address the scourge if the country is to stop women from dying unnecessarily and also to attain the millennium development goal (MDG) number 5 on maternal health.
“Unsafe aborting is one of the causes of maternal mortality. The issues surrounding abortion are not well known because of the stigma that is associated with it. Many women are dying from unsafe abortion whilst society is watching and putting the blame on the innocent woman, the Minister said.
Dr Kasonde said his ministry is happy that IPAS has been providing the technical and financial assistance for carrying out safe abortions.
Being an emotive issue, abortion has continued to be shrouded in controversy resulting in women dying or suffering complications due to unsafe abortion.
And IPAS Zambia says the activities it is carrying out on safe abortion in Lusaka and other towns countrywide are paying off.
“Ensuring access to safe, legal abortion care and preventing unsafe abortions and unwanted pregnancies could save Zambian women‘s health and save the country thousands of dollars,” Felicia Sakala said.
Ms Sakala says her organisation believes that every woman has the right to safe reproductive health choices, including safe abortion care, adding that with abortion being legal in Zambia no woman should have to risk her life, health, fertility, or her well-being and that of her family because she lacks reproductive health care.
“Women have reproductive rights and it is important to recognise them. Women everywhere must have the opportunity to determine their future, care for their families and manage their fertility,” she said

Article 28 cited as reproductive health threat

REPRODUCTIVE health rights advocates have expressed concern over Article 28 in the draft constitution saying the clause is a barrier to women’s reproductive health rights.

Article 28 of the draft constitution states that a person has, subject to clause (2) and (3), the right to life, which begins at conception, and clause (2) states that a person shall not be deprived of life intentionally, except to the extent authorised by this Constitution or any other law. Clause (3) states that a person may be deprived of life if that person has been convicted of a capital offence and sentenced to death.
In a meeting with parliamentarians in Lusaka during the week, the advocates said the statement the right to life, which begins at conception in the clause, is a barrier to many reproductive health disorders that women face.
The meeting was organised by Ipas Zambia in partnership with Planned Parenthood Association of Zambia (PPAZ) and Marie Stopes Zambia.
In a presentation, Stephen Mupeta said Zambia has a lot of women with infertility problems and should Article 28 go unchanged, treatment of such problems will be difficult.
Dr Mupeta, a medical doctor said processes like the in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) will not be possible should Article 28 be implemented.
“In-vitro fertilisation is a process by which an egg is fertilised by sperm outside the body. In-vitro fertilisation is a major treatment for infertility when other methods of assisted reproductive technology have failed,” Dr Mupeta said.
But according to Dr Mupeta, the clause prohibits the treatment for ectopic pregnancies, treatment for cancers and tumours arising from pregnancies.
“As a person who deals with obstetrics and gynaecology issues, I have handled a lot of women with infertility and other reproductive problems seeking medical attention. Generally ectopic pregnancies affect about 7 percent of pregnancies in Zambia,” Dr Mupeta said.
Article 40 in the current Mung’omba constitution allows abortion and other reproductive complications such as treatment for ectopic pregnancies, treatment for cancers and tumours arising from pregnancies and infertility through the process of in-vitro fertilisation.
And speaking at the same event, Monze member of Parliament Jack Mwiimbu said Article 28 is not a barrier to women’s reproductive health rights.
Mr Mwiimbu said the reproductive health rights advocates misinterpreted the article.
“If you carefully read clause 2, it does not prohibit the treatment of reproductive complications. The problem here is that it has been misinterpreted,” Mr Mwiimbu said.
And Chipangali member of Parliament Vincent Mwale said if the article is not clear, it will be better to define it or get read of it.
“Why put complicated clause that are full of vagueness in the constitution. It is better to remove it,” Mr Mwale said.
Mr Mwale wondered whether the committee on the draft of the constitution has a representative from the medical field in order to give guidelines to the constitutional making process on medical issues.
Published on July 14, 2012.

Circumcision

Chief Mumena leads circumcision crusade

August 1, 2012 | Filed under: Featured Stories,Features | Posted by: web editor

CHIEF MUMENA (left) with Bill Gates and Dr. Mannasseh Phiri.

By DOREEN NAWA
BEING a chief for a tribe that does not practise circumcision, a request from his eighteen-year-old son, Benjamin: ‘Daddy, can I go for circumcision’, was a difficult one for Chief Mumena of Zambia’s Kaonde people in Solwezi, North-Western Province.
“My son went to witness something which is against our culture but life-saving and that is circumcision. Sometime last year, my son came home and direct in my face asked, ‘Daddy, I want to be an MC’. I did not understand that and I asked for a clarification and Benjamin said, ‘MC stands for Male Circumcision’. Because of Benjamin’s confrontation, I was surprised and confused,” Chief Mumena says.
According to the traditional leader, he never expected his son to say such words considering that it is taboo according to the Kaonde people and being a leader, he and his family were expected not to practise what is contrary.
But before he could say anything to his son’s request, Chief Mumena pondered on this puzzle, “The Kaonde people do not practise this ritual called circumcision and my son’s request is against the culture which I have been entrusted to protect, I thought deeply and remained silent for some time.”
Chief Mumena continued thinking, “What are the elders going to think of me if my own son subscribes to something we don’t believe in? How can I let my own family follow the tribal rituals of other tribes instead of their own, and expect my people to respect me?”
Because of being an HIV/AIDS activist and Benjamin mentioning that circumcision has chances of reducing HIV/AIDS infection rate, Chief Mumena allowed his son to go ahead and get circumcised.
“Benjamin had come prepared. He was armed with information to convince me to support his request. He told me, ‘Daddy, the medical experts say that circumcision can lower my chances of becoming infected with HIV by 60 percent and it will also protect me against getting other sexually transmitted infections.”
Being on the throne for almost 12 years now since October 1, 2000 and having been confronted by his son, Chief Mumena is totally convinced that circumcision must be practised by all Zambians regardless of their cultural norms and practices.
“Time has come for all cultures to embrace male circumcision regardless of norms and values because it is a life-saving practice,” says Chief Mumena.
He has since taken an active role in searching for solutions to end the spread of HIV and AIDS and one intervention has been male circumcision, once considered taboo in his chiefdom.
“I have been an HIV/AIDS activist for some time. When I came to the throne on October 1, 2000, I noticed an ever increasing death rate due to HIV/AIDS and I decided to take it up and educate my people.”
Chief Mumena added, “And the scientific evidence on the effectiveness of male circumcision in reducing HIV transmission by at least 60 per cent has brought hope in the challenge of fighting the epidemic and I will continue to encourage my people to go for circumcision even if it is something that our tribe never practise. It is now time to bury certain traditional norms and values.”
Chief Mumena took his advocacy a step further by voluntarily choosing to be circumcised. “I decided to lead by example after the challenge from my 18-ear-old son and right now the debate is already going on and the young people are taking the lead in my chiefdom, a place once considered a non-circumcision ground,” he explained.
Chief Mumena describes the rigidity of some cultures on circumcision regardless of benefits as retrogressive.
Chief Mumena’s stance to voluntarily undergo circumcision to lead by example has won him international recognition. He was recently in Washington DC, where he was invited to a five-day International AIDS 2012 Conference by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to speak on male circumcision.
“Circumcision is no longer looked at as brutal or barbaric, in my chiefdom we have come to realise that it saves lives. How I wish other tribes that do not practise circumcision could realise this too,” he said.
Although historically his tribesmen did not subscribe to the rite, Chief Mumena said circumcision is no longer a custom issue but rather a life-saving procedure.
The chief is not just an advocate but a role model who decided to undergo circumcision after learning about its life-saving benefits.
He is known for publicly encouraging other people to undergo the medical procedure that reduces the risk of heterosexual HIV infection in men by 60 percent.
“Of what benefit are cultural norms if they endanger your life? Culture should be dynamic,” Chief Mumena said.
The male circumcision crusade in Zambia faces challenges from religious groups and other people who say there is not enough evidence to show that the practice curbs AIDS.
Statistics show a 13.5 percent HIV/AIDS prevalence rate and that less than 20 percent of all males are circumcised.
The United Nations 2010 report indicated that universal male circumcision in sub-Saharan Africa could prevent 5.7 million new infections and three million deaths over 20 years.
According to Zambia’s Society for Family Health (SFH), an international non-governmental organisation and a leading social marketing organisations focusing mainly on HIV prevention, protective effect of medical male circumcision is evident in areas where it (circumcision) is practiced.
SFH Male Circumcision programme manager Alick Samona says the procedure makes men less likely to acquire human papilloma virus, the virus that causes cervical cancer.
“It does not only reduce chances of contracting the HIV and improves hygiene but it also helps protect your wife. Circumcision helps your spouse to be less likely to get cervical cancer, because a man can give a woman his HPV which hides in the foreskin,” Mr Samona says.
Mr Samona describes circumcision as one of the ancient practices, “Even in the Bible, circumcision is mentioned and it was practised, if you read about Moses and Abraham, you will agree with me. It is not a new practice and in areas where it is practiced like North-Western Province, the HIV prevalence rate is very low.
“According to the Ministry of Health, North-Western Province is the only province that has exceeded targets for voluntary medical male circumcision,” Mr Samona says.
The ministry aims to have 80 percent of men between 15 and 49 circumcised by 2015. With such a target, it is said that circumcision could prevent 350, 000 new HIV infections by 2025.
The target for Zambia is to circumcise 2.5 million males by 2020 as once proposed according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Only two tribes in Zambia are known for observing this ordinance out of tradition. The Lundas and the Luvales of North-Western Province stand out.

Arts

Former Black Power leader releases album

August 11, 2012 | Filed under: Entertainment | Posted by: web editor

FELIX Banda and Victor Mwamba Picture By ANGELA NTETABUNGA.

By DOREEN NAWA
ONE way to get through a new message is through songs and this is exactly what former Black Power Band leader Victor Mwamba has done.
Mwamba from the singers of Imisango yaba Chaimani (trends of a leader) that made rounds in the 80s is now the band leader of the Chipulumutso band.
Chipulumutso (meaning survival) has been in existence for more than 10 years and recently compiled a 10 track Digital Video Disc (DVD) entitled Samva.
The efforts of the Chipulumutso band of Katete’s Soweto Township have been focused on spreading information.
This also includes highlighting new perspectives on the value of using alternative methods to communicate.
The focus in all the tracks is on combating HIV/ AIDS and unity.
“I have been a caregiver for more than 15 years and in the year 2000, I decided to form a band in Eastern province to help take the HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment messages to far areas,” Mwamba says.
Among the notable tracks in the DVD include; the title track Samva which is a warning against promiscuity, Ayamankhwala referring to the importance of Anti-Retroviral Drugs.
The track talks about the importance of going for testing and if found positive, the drugs are there to prolong one’s life.
The Chipulumutso band is looking for sponsorship to release their first album.
According to band co-leader Felix Banda, advocacy through songs has for many years proven to be effective.
“We have come to realise that music plays a big role in the work we are doing. I only hope people will help us to have this album released. As you many know, HIV/AIDS is a challenge and we need everyone’s effort,” Banda says.
Other tracks in the album include Ubwino, Anthu tonse, Chisontesonteke, Zambia yathu, malaria and Akaunda.

Forest

United Nations project to revive Zambia’s forest

July 19, 2012 | Filed under: Featured Stories,Features | Posted by: web editor

NURSERY for future forest

By DOREEN NAWA
MONITORING forestry losses in Zambia and the effects that the loss has on the environment can be a challenge because of lack of technical know-how.
Following the effects that deforestation has on the environment in relation to climate change, the situation in Zambia is rather a hopeless case for the lack of expertise in monitoring and managing forestry countrywide.
Environmental advocates say that forests play a critical role in mitigating climate change through the confiscation and storage of carbon in woody perennial biomass and soils.
Unfortunately, deforestation and forest degradation account for approximately 18 percent of annual global carbon dioxide emissions.
But all hope is not lost following the recently held training organised by the forestry department in the Ministry of Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection under the United Nations collaborative programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (UN-REDD) project and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
The training was meant to build capacity of stakeholders in greenhouse gas reporting as well as Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) system as support to the readiness process of forestry management in Zambia.
“The training is critical to the sustainability and successful management of out forests in the country. By the way addressing the driver of deforestation is the cheaper way of addressing climate change,” director in the forestry department, Anne Masinja says.
According to Mrs Masinja, management of the forest has been a challenge following massive deforestation due to charcoal burning, unsustainable agricultural and unsustainable land use practices.
“It is a pity that most of the people do not realise the harm they are causing to the environment due to careless cutting of trees. Loss of forests contributes as much as 30 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions each year and this is very dangerous, we need to do something to stop this,” Mrs Masinja says.
Zambia has approximately 50 million hectares of forest, with an estimated deforestation rate of 250,000 to 300,000 hectares per year.
“Zambia is faced with a number of challenges in reducing deforestation and forest degradation caused by various factors like energy requirement, unsustainable agricultural and unsustainable land use practices, timber and non-timber forest products extraction, mining and infrastructure development,” Mrs Masinja said.
Statistics show that between 1990 and 2010, Zambia lost an average of 166,600 hectares or 0.32 per cent per year of its forest mainly due to deforestation resulting from charcoal burning (energy requirements), unsustainable agricultural and land use practices such as mining and infrastructure development, and timber and non-timber forest products extraction.

Indiscriminate charcoal burning is fast destroying Zambia's forest cover.

With global concern growing over deforestation, loss of carbon stored in forests and the role of forests in climate change, the spotlight has been turned on forest monitoring in a bid to safeguard forests and monitor emissions from deforestation.
In another recent effort in the monitoring and managing of the forest in the country was the handover of Geographical Information System (GIS) equipment to the department.
As part of the mission to monitor the remaining forest in the country, the participants were also trained to undertake a countrywide remote sensing survey of forests.
The survey will substantially improve knowledge on land use including deforestation, reforestation and natural expansion of forests.
It is hoped that the training and the handover of new GIS equipment, the forestry department and other stakeholders will strengthen the capacity of all provinces countrywide to monitor their own forests.
“The need to improve national forest monitoring is overwhelming as the demand for information has never been greater even in the face of some challenges. National policy processes are striving to address cross-cutting issues such as poverty alleviation and food security related to forests,” Julian Fox, Food and Agriculture Organization UN-REDD MRV facilitator for Zambia says.
FAO supports Zambia’s efforts to close the knowledge gap through field inventories and forest monitoring systems.
“Deforestation continues at an alarming rate of about 13 million hectares annually at the global level. By combining remote sensing technology with field data collection, we improve the quality of both methods. This provides more accurate information on forest trends and new information on the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation,” Dr Fox says during his facilitation at the training.
About REDD
In 2005, a group of developing countries launched a new initiative that put forest conversation on the international agenda known as REDD.
While REDD is a new name, the activities to ensure reduced deforestation and forest degradation are well known to Zambians and these include conservation agriculture, community based natural resources management, joint forest management, sustainable energy projects (solar, improved stoves), enhancing policy and legislative frameworks.
REDD therefore calls for an integrated approach to forest management, the main reason for the training.
Land use change and especially deforestation contributes about 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
Under the UN-REDD programme, Zambia is expected to come up with a policy statement to regulate forest and the country is said to have been making steady progress towards the UN-REDD collaborative programme.
The UN-REDD programme assists developing countries to prepare and implement national REDD strategies and mechanisms towards addressing climate change.
Zambia is one of the nine countries piloting the UN-REDD programme that helps countries to get ready for the REDD mechanism in addressing climate change.
The other eight countries include Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Bolivia, Viet Nam, Paraguay, New Papua Guinea, Panama and Indonesia.
And during the training, UN-REDD national co-ordinator Deuteronomy Kasaro said, “UN-REDD Programme is not a development project as it has been understood by some, but instead it is a process of consultations, strategic planning, creative thinking and seeking realistic solutions to reduce deforestation and forest degradation and make REDD work for Zambia.”
“In recognition of the role REDD can plan in reducing emissions and facilitating sustainable socio-economic development, the Government of the Republic of Zambia is presently assessing the opportunities that can be potentially delivered through REDD,” Mr Kasaro added.
While the goal of reversing deforestation and achieving sustainable development is clear, the path to reach it can only be paved by Zambia and Zambians themselves.
The growing interest among stakeholders towards REDD is felt not only through the high participation in the training while developing its UN-REDD national programme document, but also through the numerous questions and discussions with people and organisations willing to support the efforts to protect the forests in Zambia.
The questions range from a request to provide seedlings for a tree-planting at a local school for guidance on designing sub-national forest monitoring systems that are aligned to the national measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) framework.
Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation or REDD also mitigates climate change by changing the amount of carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere from the existing forest carbon stocks.
Carbon is becoming a commodity which can be managed and traded as a household and community income stream. The involvement in measurement and monitoring of forest carbon by local people can empower them as co-managers of areas under REDD projects.
At international level it has been recognised that addressing the drivers of deforestation is one of the cheaper ways to mitigate against the impact of climate change. Hence the ability of stakeholders to assess and monitor landuse changes aimed at addressing the drivers of deforestation being vital.
It is believed that understanding drivers of deforestation and sources of greenhouse gas emissions in landuse, landuse change and forestry will enhance capacity to effectively monitor the source and potential changes.
In fact poverty plays a major role in deforestation. Just like in any other developing country, in Zambia most people in rural areas have no the options for survival like jobs or reliable businesses and rural people end up in the forest for survival.
The high poverty level costs the entire world through the loss of forests (deforestation). Without finding a lasting solution to poverty, saving the forests providing for these people, rainforests cannot be saved.
Misunderstandings
While there are uncertainties in both the international REDD framework and the national arrangements, it is essential not to let these uncertainties discourage the actors who feel the urgency of acting now to stop deforestation.
To quell misunderstandings about the programme and to reassure the multitude of actors involved, a significant part of the programme funding has been allocated to building the institutional arrangements and stakeholder engagement processes that provide a platform for discussing the issues and finding the answers that work best the Zambian context.

Street Naming

ZICTA in street naming project

August 13, 2012 | Filed under: Features | Posted by: web editor

PART of the audience that attended the meeting in Kalingalinga. - PICTURE By DOREEN NAWA.

By DOREEN NAWA
IT is one of the vital requirements for any pupil enrolling at a new school to give a residential address or just particulars of the person’s abode.
But for people residing in most Zambian townships like Kalingalinga, this would definitely be a challenge.
Kalingalinga is one of the residential areas in Lusaka that do not have residential addresses and street names and this has prompted the birth of a project called National Addressing and Postcode Project.
There are numerous benefits to street naming and well-coordinated residential addresses. Think of a house catching fire in Kalingalinga and the firefighters have to locate a house to put out the fire or a post master wanting to deliver an urgent mail to a Kalingalinga resident.
And just how does one locate a house in Kalingalinga, ‘complicated’ puzzle here.
Firstly, there are no residential addresses on the houses and secondly, the streets have no names.
But such a challenge will soon be history following a street naming project by the Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA) with the help from the Lusaka City Council (LCC). The project is a brainchild of ZICTA.
Recently, ZICTA launched this development and implementation of a comprehensive National Addressing System in Zambia called the National Addressing and Postcode Project.
The primary objective of the project is to capture in a national database, the address details of all residential and commercial properties in the country, to enable users of the database to search for, and find, the physical address of all captured properties.
Speaking during the launch in Kalingalinga, ZICTA public relations officer Chisha Malunda-Shimungalu says, “Lack of addresses is a barrier not only to the provision of postal and courier services, but a host of social and commercial services as well.”
The project will involve the naming of unnamed streets, numbering houses and other properties, actual deployment of street-name signs in the affected neighbourhoods as well as house numbers on the individual houses in those areas.
“Street names in any city or township often appear to be insignificant and only present to guide lost travellers; however the history behind the names often reveals a past that reflects their true importance,” says Mrs Shimungalu.
She says utility companies will also find it extremely challenging to deliver essential services such as water and electricity, and to collect revenue from their customers in the absence of an addressing system.
Apart from selected neighbourhoods in Lusaka and Copperbelt provinces, which have properly named streets with logically allocated house numbers that are easy to locate, most of the country is in dire need of address infrastructure.
ZICTA further notes that the Post Office Box or P.O.Box addressing system which is currently the most widely used in the country is clearly not sufficient to cater for the whole population and, more importantly, cannot provide the various benefits that are associated with a physical or residential address mainly because of the current addressing system.
The project will also involve the development of addressing standards that will ensure uniformity and order in the allocation of addresses, and the development of national postcode system.
The project will be implemented in phases, commencing with a six-month pilot phase in the selected parts of Lusaka Province namely Northmead, the central business district, Kamwala South, Kalingalinga, and a village to be identified in due course.
Upon successful completion of the pilot phase, the project will be extended to the rest of the country over the next three years.
There was a rekindling interest in the naming of streets in Kalingalinga as evidenced by the number of people that attended the launch.
Kalingalinga ward 31 councillor Emson Mbewe spoke of the determination of the government to implement street names in various communities countrywide.
“This project may seem a worst of time for people that do not understand. But from the number of people that are here, I can safely say that the project is a positive one and we will succeed. It is important to embark on a project like this one for many reasons like security, in case a family is attacked by thieves, police will have easy access and render their help to the victims,” Mr Mbewe says.
But just how helpful is the naming of streets? Of what benefit is the adoring of a street to the economy and the ordinary man on the street?
Many reasons were cited during the launch of the project in Kalingalinga as to why it is important to embark on a street naming project within Kalingalinga area and other townships.
One remarkable statement made by the area councillor was the fact that the process was complicated because of the illegal construction of houses.
“This project needs experts and it needs to be carefully looked at to give location or for finding fire service and police services and geographical analysis,” Mr Mbewe says.
An address is a means of identifying a location that enables people to reach it as well as various goods and services to be delivered to that location. The location can be a home or shop, factory or any business.
Without addresses, ambulances, firefighters, police and security services cannot get to those in need on time.
Furthermore, postal and courier companies cannot deliver their letters and parcels efficiently.
Opening a bank account or buying goods on a hire purchase agreement all require a verifiable physical address to be provided.
Lack of addresses is therefore a barrier not only to the provision of postal and courier services but a host of social and commercial services as well.
Addresses are in this sense essential for social and economic development as they allow people to be connected to the formal economy.
Unfortunately, the majority of people in Zambia and most developing countries do not have an address in the true meaning of the word.
The recent spate of crime in Kalingalinga has raised several questions. The question that every concerned Zambian is asking is whether the police are really in control.
Consider armed robbery for example. The r absence of street names means that when a person is attacked by an armed robber, their location cannot be accurately be communicated to the police.
The police should be able to check within the shortest possible time where exactly the victim is for quick response.
If street naming had been intensely pursued, the information provided by the potential victim could be fed into the system which could then immediately show on a computer screen, upon query, a representation of the geography of the area where the victim resides including their very own precise location.
It is against this background that ZICTA has prioritised the development and implementation of the national address and postcode project.
The project is expected to be of great benefit, not only to the delivery of postal and courier services that are regulated by ZICTA but also positively impact the response to fire, police and ambulance emergency services by various wings of government.

Charcoal production

Charcoal production: Crisis or opportunity

August 21, 2012 | Filed under: Features | Posted by: web editor

By DOREEN NAWA
BEING the cheapest source of energy for not only Zambia’s poor but also the middle-class, usage of charcoal is vital countrywide.
Amid calls from national, regional and international communities on sustainable production and consumption of charcoal, the country is at crossroads.
Charcoal production is one of the major drivers of climate change because of its production process and the link between charcoal production and deforestation.
Currently the situation has been received with mixed feelings because besides being the cheapest source of energy countrywide, charcoal is also perceived as a quicker and easier way of earning money for both mostly the rural and urban populace.
It is with no doubt that drivers of charcoal production include high poverty levels, lack of employment and alternative livelihoods and these put Zambia’s forest at risk following the ever-increasing number of people in charcoal production.
Nchimunya Mweemba, a charcoal trader at Lusaka’s Mtendere market says charcoal business is the most convenient for her because it does not need huge capital for its start.
“We have been in this business for quite some time. I and my husband usually give each other shifts, at the moment I am here and he is in Kalomo for charcoal production. Once the charcoal is ready for sale, he will transport it here [Lusaka] where it is on demand,” Mrs Mweemba says.

Sacks of Charcoal ready for sale in the Lower Zambezi National park- Picture courtesy of Forestry department.

Seating comfortably on the remains of charcoal, Mrs Mweemba makes her cup of sweet late evening tea at the market, prodding the coal embers beneath her kettle.
“This is home. I spend my whole time here at the market selling charcoal and once it is finished my husband will come with more sacks and I will go back to Kalomo to check on the children,” Mrs Mweemba says.
Asked why she cannot venture in farming instead of charcoal production, Mrs Mweemba had this to say, “But the rains do not come on time anymore. Instead of starting in November, you find it starts in December and stops early. You will find that by February the rains are gone. And if you have planted maize, the yield will be very poor not even enough for consumption that is why charcoal production is the best option for us in rural areas.”
But it is not the government that is sanctioning the chopping of the hardwood; it is the choice of the charcoal producers because charcoal made out of hardwood is more attractive.
“Demand for charcoal in the urban areas has created a market for the production of charcoal. It is undisputable that charcoal is a cheaper source of energy compared to electricity, charcoal is a major source of income for people in rural areas,” one of the consultants Jacob Mwitwa said at the presentation of the two recent charcoal studies in Zambia at Pamodzi Hotel in Lusaka.
Zambia’s hardwood forests are falling prey to poor villagers who are chopping down trees and surviving off the proceeds from selling charcoal.
Mostly these poor villagers are jobless and have little opportunity to support their families and charcoal production is the easiest business venture.
The Forestry Department (FD) estimates that up to 300,000 hectares of forest were being cleared each year.
According to FD director Annie Masinja, now the rate of deforestation could be almost twice that.
“Zambia has one of the highest rates in terms of deforestation. It has one of the world’s highest rates of deforestation in a place where the rainy season has already been cut in half. As you may be aware, forest plays an important role in mitigating the effects of climate change,” Mrs Masinja says.
According to Mrs Masinja, government has made unproductive attempts to curb the destruction of the forests.
Government has banned the production of charcoal without a licence and the cutting down of trees in natural reserves like game management areas and areas gazette as forest reserves.
The ban has not been effective following little option that charcoal traders have for survival. But with the high unemployment levels among the rapidly growing population, charcoal production becomes an easy and worthy business venture to engage in.
According to the two studies recently launched, less than 20 percent of Zambians have access to electricity making charcoal the only option.
A 25-kilogram sack of charcoal (malasha) costs between K25,000 and K35,000, a substantial sum for something produced at little or no cost at all.
For those that can not afford to buy a sack of charcoal, the commodity is even more affordable at the market.
Once the bag of charcoal is taken to the market, the sack can be divided into smaller piles, tucked into translucent pastel plastic bags selling for as low as K1,000.
Another consultant on the recent two charcoal studies in Zambia Davison Gumbo says Zambian charcoal is particularly popular in the region because of its renown for burning cleanest and longest.
“From our study, we found out that the charcoal produced in Zambia does not only end up in Zambia, a lot of it is being exported to other countries and is on demand. You may wish to know that charcoal production is in three categories: those that produce on a larger scale [export purposes], the seasonal producers [mostly peasant famers] who produce just to buy inputs and the youths [Those that produce just to have money],” Mr Gumbo says.
According to Mr Gumbo, Zambia’s charcoal is made from the country’s precious hardwood and burns longer that other charcoal from Zambia’s neighboring countries.
Mr Gumbo says during the study, most non-Zambians they came across, recommended the Zambian charcoal.
On the Great East Road, an hour barely passes without seeing Fuso trucks transporting charcoal to Lusaka where the commodity is on demand.
And one may wonder, is there hope for trees in Zambia? And the answer is yes. Minister of Lands, Natural Resources and Environment Protection Wylbur Simuusa says there is hope following Zambia’s engagement with various stakeholder and international partners on how best to address the production and consumption of charcoal in the country.
“From the two studies presented to us, I can see that charcoal production hinges on the survival of most people especially the rural populace. As government we will ensure that we consult widely before taking any step.
You can ask people not to cut down trees and not give them an alternative and we are here to learn from our partners like the Finish government and the Food and Agriculture Organisation including numerous partners I cannot mention name by name here,” Mr Simuusa says.
Knowing that others outside Zambia are speaking the conservation language, it helps Zambia to start tentative shuffling steps in that direction.
An aerial view over Zambia in the dry season looks like a nation on fire with smoke filling the sky.
Many of these fires are started by people busy cutting trees to make charcoal or clearing new land for farm land. Charcoal production is increasing at alarming rates in Zambia and is contributing to large-scale land degradation, habitat loss, watershed damage, down-river flooding and huge carbon output.
Forest products do not only include charcoal, among the forest product is honey, a product too on high demand following its healthy values.
Charcoalers are eager for an alternative source of income and most recognize the practice is destructive and harms their future but lack the technical knowhow on how to harvest honey from the forests.
To reverse the alarming deforestation levels in Zambia, the need to mobilise and train communities in alternative livelihood skills like honey production is vital.

Germany: of tax, church and salvation

By DOREEN NAWA

April 25, 2012 | Filed under: Features | Posted by: web editor

IT is eight to nine percent for ‘salvation’ in Germany and it is both legal and official.  As long as someone earns enough to sustain a life, then the person is obliged to pay eight to nine percent of their monthly income to their church as church tax.
It all starts when any Christian like the Lutherans, Protestants, Catholics get a new job. A form is signed to state which religion the new employee belongs to and this is not just for records’ sake.
It is done to give Government a leeway to deduct the eight to nine percent of the monthly salary. This deduction is later given to the church at the end of the year for various charitable projects.
This church tax is not only in Germany but other European countries and has helped Europe maintain its status of no vulnerable people on the streets like is the situation in Zambia.
“One of the legal requirements when you are given a new job is to state your religion and this is done for both company records and for the government for church tax purposes. I have been paying tax for the past three decades. I think and I do that because I am a Christian, I am a protestant,” said  Nea Matzen, a German journalist and  editor at  Die Tagesschau in Hamburg, Germany.
Ms Matzen said she feels obliged to contribute to the work that Christians are doing in Germany.
She said there are underprivileged people in Germany and this is why the churches are involved in looking after them.
“This is the reason why I contribute and I do not think of withdrawing from the church just because of this tax. We have orphans and the aged who are taken care of by the church despite their religious affiliations through the monies we pay,” she said.
To a few Germans, this is a good idea because the church is involved in numerous charitable works that need funding but to some, it is not.
According to Ms Matzen, the idea of church tax has contributed to dozens of people leaving the church for more money in their pockets. The best option to lower tax for Germans is by leaving the church.
The idea of paying church tax has shaken the church and seems to be contributing to large numbers of people being non- religious.
Whoever leaves the church is freed from this and no longer has to pay, but also no longer belongs to the church.
However, the church tax is looked at as a good move in Zambia if one considers the ever increasing number of the vulnerable on the streets.
Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) general secretary Suzanna Matale says that because tithe is voluntary, the church tax is a good move in financing the various projects that churches undertake in various countries worldwide.
“The idea of church tax is good because it helps the church to have funds to finance various projects it is involved in,” Reverend Matale said.
In Germany, Protestant and Catholic churches are denominations and legal statutory bodies. In the latter capacity, the churches have tax-raising powers. The state collects the tax and passes it on to the churches, receiving a payment for this service. The sole way of avoiding church tax is formally to leave one’s church.
According to information on the German Portal, Christianity is the largest religion in Germany with 67.07 percent of the population as of 2007.
The percentage is, however, slowly going down due to a significant number of adherents leaving the church. The second largest religion is Islam with four percent of the country’s population followed by Buddhism and Judaism.
During the last few decades, the two largest churches in Germany, Catholic and Protestant, have lost a significant number of adherents. The two religions are down to roughly 30 percent by the end of 2010.
One of the churches that are facing a noticeable withdrawal of membership is Catholic Church. It is facing a significant wave of members renouncing their official registration as Catholics.
Their departures are diminishing the institution’s significant coffers, long fed by taxes collected and allocated by the German state based on denominations’ registered numbers.
Many practising Catholics favour leaving the system intact because it pays the salaries of thousands of church employees and contributes to the work of aid agencies such as Caritas. Church authorities, of course, argue that abolishing the tax would “lead to further secularisation”.
According to Claus Hesseling, a German Catholic, the departures of hundreds of Catholics from the church have affected most charity work that the church is involved in.
“The money I pay goes to helping someone in need of a shirt, food or shelter, but lately there has been a noticeable loss of members in the Catholic Church within German. I read somewhere that over 300 Catholics a day are being “excommunicated” after they register their departures,” Mr Hesseling said.
The total deductions made from employees as church tax are worth about 5.6 billion euros annually.
A national debate has started in Germany about the legitimacy of the Church tax, which is levied on all those registered with the Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant and Old Catholic churches.
The debate follows a controversy of some who no longer wish to pay the additional eight or nine per cent tax, but also want to remain members of their respective churches.
Under the current system, a Christian who wants to opt out of paying the tax has to sign a form at the local town hall stating their intention to “leave the public body of the church”. When one does this it is as good as excommunicating themselves.
The church tax system does not leave out the foreigners working in Germany. Expatriates living in Germany can be subject to German taxes, especially if they have German source income.
According to Joshua Ewulo, a Nigerian doctor at Elisabeth Hospital in Berlin, the German tax system is similar to the structures in other Western countries.
“You pay income taxes throughout the year, usually with an employer deducting tax from each paycheck. Adjustments are then made at the end of the year for possible under- or over-payments. I wish they (Government and the church) can consider the consequences of people leaving the church,” Dr Ewulo said.
He said that eight to nine percent is just too much because it is not the only deduction made to one’s monthly income. In Germany even singles and couples pay tax. The deduction from one’s income is up to 45 percent, which is also too much.
Despite the controversy that surrounds the church tax in Germany, clergymen in Zambia look at it as a good move that can help finance charitable projects that churches are doing.
Independent Churches of Zambia board chairperson David Masupa says the church tax is a good idea and should be emulated.
“The idea of church tax is good and it can help us take care of the vulnerable that are all over our streets. Like the tax that Zambia Revenue Authority collects, it would be good if a separate account is created for tax collected from any building that is rented by the church organisation and later given back to the church,” Reverend Masupa said.
Despite the controversy surrounding the church tax in Germany and the rest of Europe, the church tax has helped take care of the vulnerable like the aged and the orphans.
The benefits are clear from the non-availability of vulnerable children on the streets in Germany and Europe as a whole.

FAO donates GIS equipment worth K2bn

By DOREEN NAWA

May 2, 2012 | Filed under: Local News | Posted by: web editor

THE Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has donated Geographical Information System (GIS) equipment to the Ministry of Lands worth over K2 billion.
Besides the equipment, FAO has also donated seven Land Cruisers to the ministry. Two Land Cruisers have come from the United Nations Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UN-REED) and the five vehicles were from the Integrated Land use Assessment (ILUA).
Currently, Zambia is implementing a programme called UN-REED projects, whose main objective is to protect forests.
The equipment includes 11 desktop computers, 11 printers, 10 scanners, 10 map plotters, one projector and two laptops worth over US$500,000 (over  K2.6 billion).
The equipment will be distributed to the 10 provinces under the forestry department.
Receiving the donation in Lusaka on Monday, Minister of Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Wylbur Simuusa said Government recognises the need to address the challenges that the forestry sector faces in protecting the resource.
Mr Simuusa said the GIS equipment will enable the multi-sectoral teams at provincial level to generate information and maps for planning purposes.
“You cannot do anything tangible without planning. The drivers of deforestation can only be effectively addressed with appropriate information for planning,” Mr Simuusa said.
According to the minister, trained forestry officers in all the  provinces will use the equipment and ensure that the right information is documented on forestry countrywide.
Commenting on the UN-REED programme, Mr Simuusa said the programme will help to enhance sustainable forest management by addressing the drivers of deforestation and putting in place effective forest management and monitoring systems.
The UN-REED is supporting Zambia to develop a national strategy to reduce deforestation.
And speaking earlier, FAO country representative Ad Spijkers said forestry management is vital to national development.
Mr Spijkers said all the natural resources wholly depend on good forest management.
“Zambia is very rich in terms of natural resources like water and land but the lifespan of these important resources depends on how well the forest is managed,” Mr Spijkers said.
Mr Spijkers pledged his organisation’s support to reducing deforestation in Zambia.

‘Children with disabilities need access to education’

By DOREEN NAWA

Disabled children at Maamba Mine Special Education School  demonstrate how they sleep every night. -Picture by DOREEN NAWA.

IT is a wish of every parent to have a ‘normal’ child (a child with no disability) once it is born, yet circumstances and nature at times take away that wish and most parents end up having physically challenged children.

No mother has an idea of whether the child she is carrying has a disability or not, the situation is unpredictable.

And once the child with a disability is born, the options on how to raise that child continues to narrow. In terms of the child’s access to education, the road gets narrower because of the limited schools that offer special education in Zambia.
Statistics show that Zambia has inadequate schools offering special education as compared to the population of the disabled children. Only 15 schools are offering special education in Zambia.
Among the few schools is Maamba Mine Special Education School in Southern Province. The school is one of the few schools offering special education to the physically challenged children in Zambia.
Maamba Mine Special Education School has 131 pupils and 87 of these are in boarding.
A recent visit by Southern Province Minister Obvious Mwaliteta and Sinazongwe UPND member of Parliament Richwell Siamunene was a blessing to the school following their promise to bring corporate companies in Maamba on board to render support to the school.
“The school has 131 pupils (84 boys and 47 girls) and out of these, 87 are in boarding. We have a lot of problems like teaching and learning material, infrastructure, as you can see, the school uses these same two classrooms which are also used as dormitories in the night. We have two dormitories and one ablution block with two toilets and two shower rooms,” deputy head teacher Innocent Milambo says.
Besides the infrastructure, teaching and learning challenges that the school is facing, other challenges include water and financial problems.
According to Mr Milambo, the school depends on the rationed water from Maamba Mines. “We need a borehole of our own here, currently we depend on water from the mines which is often rationed and we tend to be disadvantaged most of the times. It becomes difficult especially when the pupils mess themselves up,” he said.
The school handles visually and hearing-impaired, intellectually and physically handicapped children coming from within Maamba, Lusaka, Chipata, Livingstone, Mongu and other parts of the country.

“We urgently need help here. There are few teachers because of the teachers’ housing problems. We do not have enough mattresses. Two or three children share a bed. We have no industrial stove and we only have one stove we use, the normal stoves like those for household use and a brazier, which makes preparing meals for the 131 pupils a challenge,” Mr Milambo says.

One of the physically challenged children, Joseph Musanje, 18, a grade nine pupil at the school, says the difficulties in accommodation are just but one of the motivational factors to study hard and be selected to grade 10 next year.
“I come from Livingstone and I cannot walk because my spine developed a problem when I was young and it caused paralysis. Four pupils share a single bed, two facing the opposite direction each but I am not discouraged because I am not here to stay but to get an education and leave,” Joseph says.
For Joseph, being physically challenged is not the end of the world but an opportunity to change societal perception about people with disabilities.
“All I can say to the disabled and physically challenged children is that they should come out in the open if they are to be helped and for society to accept them. For me I am here to challenge society and change their thinking about us.
“I have been here for many years; I came here before I even knew how to write. For me it is a good place because we are given an opportunity to get educated. All I can wish is to have enough classrooms, dormitories, dining room and a kitchen,” Joseph says with a wide smile on his face.
Being the eldest in the family of six, Joseph wants to be a medical doctor so that he can serve the lives of many including those with disabilities.

Despite all the challenges, it takes a second glance to realise that the children are actually physically challenged as the smiles on their faces beat it all. They live as one family, play and pray together as one.

The school, which was opened in 1991 as Maamba Mine Basic School and following the ever-increasing number of children with disabilities, was delinked from the basic school and is now a stand-alone.

The school, which takes care of children aged between six and 20, has classes from grade one to nine with eight teachers of whom only six are trained.

 

 And Mr Mwaliteta says there is need for more trained teachers so that the school can run effectively, adding that it was sad to note that children were being neglected by society.

“Do not tell me Maamba has no corporate companies who can come to the rescue of these children. I know there is Zesco here and the Maamba Collieries Limited who can help this school through their corporate social responsibility. There are also not enough people to take care of the children and these institutions can help,” Mr Mwaliteta says.

And Mr Siamunene, the area MP, says most children suffer stigma from their parents and other family members, hence the need for Government and other stakeholders to recognise and care for them.
“It is very depressing to be here, that is why I brought the provincial minister to see for himself. This is the biggest challenge we have ahead of us as newly-elected leaders, we need to go out and sensitise the people out there that children with disabilities are human beings too and need to be loved and cared for just like other children. They need to be taken to school and should not be abandoned,” Mr Siamunene says.
The mixed understanding of disability in Zambia is quite a big challenge especially as it contributes to inefficient provision of education and other social services.
Like the situation at Maamba Mine Special Education School, it calls for a united, co-ordinated, and pragmatic action by all stakeholders, to expose disability perceptions, and freely share the universal perception if the country is to live by the ‘Education for All’ target.
As long as there is no action taken by all stakeholders, these members of the Zambian society (disabled children) will continue to live as third-class citizens.

Health

ZAMBIA: Pregnant women ignore killer malaria

1. Posted on Friday 6 May 2011 - 10:17
   Doreen Nawa, AfricaNews reporter in Lusaka, Zambia

   For her first pregnancy, Kezia Banda did not like the idea of taking sulfdoxine pyremethanine, known by the brand name Fansidar, the recommended drug to protect her against malaria. The longer time she needs to complete a full dose of the malaria course puts her off. Banda always dribbled the nurse saying she will take it home with a fruit.

   

   In all Government clinics, it is mandatory that every pregnant woman who attends antenatal clinic takes an anti-malarial drug three times before giving birth.
   
   And to make sure that mothers to-be take the prescribed anti-malaria drug, the nurses will ensure that it is taken in their presence at the clinic, a thing that most pregnant women abhor.
   
   But for Mrs Banda, the truth was she never took the medication and instead threw it away on her way back home from the antenatal clinic.
   
   Little did she know that the malaria attack was closer than ever and the results were severe. At four months she started experiencing fever, chills, vomiting and other flu-like symptoms, and traditionally she thought her body was getting accustomed to the pregnancy changes.
   
   The situation got serious and when she was taken to the hospital, she had a miscarriage.
   
   Miscarriage rate
   
   According to the World Health Organization (WHO), pregnant women who acquire malaria have a highly elevated rate of miscarriage. The miscarriage rate for pregnant women with malaria may be as high as 60%.
   
   While malaria is both treatable and preventable, if left untreated it can cause severe complications and even death.
   
   From a medical point of view, malaria can also increase the risk of stillbirth and neonatal death. Malaria is one of the main causes of miscarriage in developing countries including Zambia.
   
   Malaria is especially dangerous for pregnant women and their unborn children. It is caused by a parasite that attacks and kills the blood cells of humans, which can lead to anemia. If a pregnant woman is infected with malaria, the disease can be transmitted through her blood to the fetus, leading to stunting at birth and stillbirth.
   
   When a woman becomes pregnant especially for the first time, they lose their built-up immunity to the disease and once they have an attack, if not treated early, women have miscarriages.
   
   A reduced level of healthy red blood cells leads to anemia which leads to death or various internal-organ health problems. It is associated with retarding the growth of a fetus and lower child-survival rates.
   
   Currently, Mrs Banda is pregnant again and this time she makes sure that she takes her medication at the clinic in the presence of the nurse whenever she goes for the antenatal at Lusaka’s Chelstone Clinic.
   
   She needs to take it three times before giving birth to protect herself and the unborn baby from malaria which caused a miscarriage during her first pregnancy.
   
   Ms Banda is one of the many women in malaria-endemic countries like Zambia where the Ministry of Health has made it mandatory for every pregnant woman to take a malarial drugs three times prior to giving birth.
   
   During her previous pregnancy, Mrs Banda was never protected against malaria which meant that she was at risk contracting to malaria. Surely she did have malaria and lost her pregnancy.
   
   She is now remaining with only a dose of fansidar during her pregnancy. Since she receives her treatment at the health clinic during her pregnancy care visits, she does not throw away the medicine and has never had a fever or contracted malaria.
   
   Malaria, by its complexity of involving health as well as environmental and socioeconomic determinants and consequences, relates virtually to all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
   
   In a bid to reduce the country’s malaria burden, health workers at all centres countrywide do carryout malaria education, diagnosis and treatment to would-be mothers that visit the health centre for route antenatal check ups.
   
   Ending death
   
   Ending death from malaria is a goal of Zambia’s Ministry of Health as well as WHO and it is up to the mothers to heed and take the recommended drugs to prevent death and of their unborn babies.
   
   Approximately 40 percent of the world’s population, mostly those living in developing countries are at risk of malaria. In Zambia about 6, 000 people died of malaria each year among the population of about 13.5 million.
   
   The World Health Organisation estimates that malaria causes nearly a million deaths a year, mostly among African children. The disease is a major cause of lost work productivity in endemic countries.
   
   Such strategies used to fight malaria are something women ought to go for. Health experts say pregnant women are more susceptible to the disease than other adults, especially women who are pregnant for the first time.
   
   Up to 30 million African women become pregnant each year in areas where malaria is prevalent, and more than 200,000 newborns die each of the disease.
   
   The goals include making sure that the quality of the work at health facilities is optimal, that women are receiving education, [and that] new doctors, nurses and midwives are all learning new policies to practice in health facility settings.
   
   More than 1 million of the 300-500 million cases of malaria each year result in death. Malaria is the leading cause of death for children under age five in sub-Saharan Africa, and a predominant killer of pregnant women and their unborn children.
   
   Malaria costs Africa an estimated $12 billion in lost productivity each year.

Education

NIE: Inculcating a reading culture in schools

By DOREEN NAWA
HAVE you ever asked your child to circle in the newspaper the letters that make up the alphabet?
What about asking your child to identify nouns, pronouns, verbs, proverbs or adjectives in the newspaper?
Maybe you have gone to the sports page of the newspaper and asked your child to identify in the football league table Odd numbers, Prime number or the difference between the top team and the one at the bottom of the table.  
One of the worrisome challenges in the Zambian education system is the poor reading culture in most schools.
This problem is compounded mainly by the shortage of reading and learning materials in schools.
The lack of access to reading and learning materials has largely contributed to the poor reading culture and poor performance of the school going children.
In an effort to bridge the gap, the Zambia Institute of Mass Communication (ZAMCOM) recently launched the Newspaper In Education (NIE) project in Lusaka.
The NIE project is a ZAMCOM initiative with the assistance from the American International Health (AIHA), the University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications with support from USAID.
The main objective of the Newspaper In Education is to promote the reading culture of pupils in schools countrywide.
Generally, the contents of the NIE will range from environment, gender to education.
Following a partnership ZAMCOM entered into with USAID, and other co-operating partners like Zambia Daily Mail, the NIE project will provide access to quality reading relevant to the primary and basic school curriculum.
The NIE project will provide inexpensive, relevant teaching materials and ready-to-use lesson plans to Zambian schools.
At the launch, Minister of Education John Phiri said the NIE project will not only improve the reading culture among pupils but also alleviate the shortage of teaching and learning materials in schools.
“We welcome this gesture because we realise such help will assist restocking the much needed reading materials in our schools,” Dr Phiri said.
At the same function, USAID Education team leader Wick Powers said the USAID supported NIE programme will encourage more Zambian school children to read.
“Reading is the single most critical foundational skill in early education and is the basis for future learning,” Mr Powers said.
With the NIE in every school at no cost at all, it is hoped that the passion for reading will become a cultural habit for students in Zambia.
Marble Sakuwaha, a teacher at one of Government schools in Lusaka says most private schools produce quality pupils because of the reading culture they have cultivated among the students.
She says students in most Government schools lack reading and learning materials, which makes the reading culture non-existence.
“Reading is not merely a hobby, it is a culture. This culture is usually cultivated in the early stages of a child’s life. For private schools, you will find that their pupils perform better than ours because of their capacity to introduce the students early to reading. Our colleagues have enough reading materials and I believe the NIE will complement on the lack of reading material mostly in government schools,” she said.
Reading is a very important language skill because of the benefits an individual or community derives.
The availability of the NIE in every school where people can read is also a major factor that will lead students in the country become avid readers.
It is undisputable that good reading skills lead students to become successful learners.
Most of the time, a student learns from written language learning materials, such as textbooks, handouts, posters and other publications like newspapers and magazines.
Reading also encourages people to become successful lifelong learners, as books can be enjoyed throughout a lifetime.
“The NIE is a good initiative because it will provide a platform for them to read. Reading can stimulate someone to be creative and innovative. Innovation results from the combination of ideas and concepts. The more we read, the more ideas and concepts come to mind. Take Japan as an example: the high level of reading in Japan has made it one of the most innovative nations,” according to Henry Muntanga, a former head teacher at Muyoma Basic school in Lusaka.
Mr Muntanga suggests that policy makers should seriously promote reading in the country by redesigning the literacy education curriculum so that it stipulates reading books in classrooms is compulsory.
“This means schools have to be equipped and enriched with a variety of reading materials. Students should be allowed to read all books, both fiction and non-fiction, based on their age and reading skills,” says Mr Muntanga.
A reading culture is an important ingredient for any society to become developed.
Although it is a challenging journey, with willingness and commitment a sustained reading culture can definitely be achieved.
When there were no televisions or computers, reading was a primary leisure activity.
People would spend hours reading books and travel to lands far away-in their minds.
However, with modern technology, most people have lost their skill and passion to read and this has also been transferred to students.
It has however been observed that children and teenagers who love reading have comparatively higher degree of intelligence.
They are more creative and do better in school and college. It is recommended that parents inculcate the importance of reading in their children in the early years.
Reading is said to significantly help in developing vocabulary, and doing it aloud helps to build a strong emotional bond between parents and children.
The children who start reading at an early age seem to have good language skills, and they grasp the variances in phonics much better.
Reading helps in mental development and is known to stimulate the muscles of the eyes.
Reading is an activity that involves greater levels of concentration and adds to the conversational skills of the reader.
It is an indulgence that enhances the knowledge acquired, consistently. The habit of reading also helps readers to decipher new words and phrases that they come across in everyday conversations.
Once in cooperated in the students’ life and with the NIE readily available, the habit of reading can become a healthy addiction to students.
So the next time you buy the Zambia Daily Mail, know that it can be used to teach gramma, civic, geography, mathematics, science, history and many other subjects.

Environment

Climate change should take centre stage

By DOREEN NAWA IN THE face of climate change, the fate of the remaining natural resources in Zambia largely depends on how the land around it is managed. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that the economic, social and environmental future of this country depends on the wise use of its land resources. In view of this, stakeholders from various organisations including government ministries recently met in Chisamba to find a way forward in mitigating climate change through land use. It is generally agreed that land resources such as water, forests and land itself can be a powerful agent of change and as such climate change will have strong effects if the issues of land use are not addressed. During the meeting, it was resolved that it is possible to make choices with land resources that will mitigate what seems likely to be the effects of climate change. In Zambia, land resource management has become a critical issue because of the role it plays in contributing to the well-being of many whose lives are dependant on land and forests. It is with this background that community participation in local land use and management becomes paramount to any long-term success of mitigating the effects of climate change. “The issues of climate change threaten Government’s efforts in achieving development objectives including the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals and poverty reduction, But Government alone cannot succeed without community participation,” Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources permanent secretary Peter Mumba said at the Chisamba meeting. The need to engage forest dependent communities in addressing issues of climate change and land resources management is vital because the livelihood of most communities in Zambia is inextricably tied to land and forests. Mr Mumba said in efforts to reduce gas emissions, initiatives that tend to give a solution to the issues of gas emissions and climate change should not ignore the plight of the local communities. He said the land resource sector is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions both globally and countrywide. “It is estimated that land use accounts for up to 30 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions and in the case of Zambia emissions from the land use sector area much larger fraction due to deforestation, now estimated to be between 250,000 to 300,000 hectares per annum,” Mr Mumba said. A prevailing notion is that community-based approaches to planning tend to be more effective because they incorporate the relevant knowledge and experience of those affected by land resource decisions. In this way, participation can help to mitigate potential and existing conflicts and empower communities to take a more active role in exploring management issues and initiating possible responses. Community empowerment in land resources is both desirable and critical to the adaption and mitigation of climate change. According to Climate Change Facilitation Unit technical co-ordinator in the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources, Professor Prem Jain, community participation serves several purposes including increasing economic and technical efficiency because resource users have more clearly defined responsibilities for their actions. Of late, climate change has become a serious challenge to sustainable development and if no action is taken to mitigate it, the effects of climate change will become unbearable. Prof Jain said land resource management is a key factor in the mitigation of climate change adding that Zambia contributes more that 38million tonnes of green houses gases due to poor land resource management. “The effects of land resource management have also contributed to reduced yields annually because of poor land. That is how crucial it is and therefore we need to address this challenge now,” Prof Jain said. Sustainable development and benefits to the protected area and surrounding communities are possible only to the extent that local people are involved. Community participation in land resource management is seen as an important enforcement check and balance mechanism to control natural-resource depletion. Notably, community bargaining power is generally less than that of the management agency, the education and training offered to communities is often biased toward the perceptions and goals of the management agency rather than the needs of the community. According to Zambia Land Alliance, one of the participating organisations to the meeting, a partnership must be created in which rights, aspirations, knowledge, and skills are respected and enhanced, and the importance of human-nature relationships is recognised and valued. “In addition to traditional natural-resource questions, relevant social issues raised by the community may include traditional land-use patterns or methods, territorial rights, or the right to self-determination,” the Zambia Land Alliance said in their presentation at the meeting. Besides these social aspects of environmental management, the economic side of integrated development planning is also important, and experience has shown that it may be particularly important in tourism planning where cultures and environmental quality are central concerns. Not all communities, however, are equipped to participate fully at the co-management level; they may need additional education to build experience and to strengthen confidence that problems can be confronted and solved locally. Effective participation by communities may require improving technical knowledge within the community and improving communications between the community and other institutions with an aim towards collaboration and institutional strengthening. Through these different modes of education, communities may be empowered to participate in management as partners with established management agencies. However, it is not only the community that needs additional training and education. Government agencies, non-governmental organisations, and assistance agencies also may need training and education to foster collaboration and co-management. Clearly, how such training is planned and implemented will determine its chances for success. Land resource planning is a centrally important government function, directly affecting the lives of all people. It is therefore particularly important that it is characterised by fairness and transparency and that people are afforded a meaningful right to participate in decisions. When public authorities formulate new plans, they must be put in place. Also, where land development projects are initiated by the private and non-governmental sectors, there must be procedures that ensure that interested parties have an opportunity to express their views or to object. Although the idea of co-management may appear basic to land resource planning, achieving it in a real-world setting is often more complex. Real-life limitations of politics, history, economic forces, and cultural traditions determine to a large extent not only what is needed but the range of possibilities.

Governance

Peaceful elections cementing Zambia’s democracy

By DOREEN NAWA WITH the September 20 elections passing as one of the most peaceful transitions of power in Zambia’s political history, every fear of post-election violence should now be duly consigned to the dustbins of history. Zambians last month allowed history to repeat itself by ensuring the country’s fifth general election, since the 1991 return of multi-party politics, passed without major incidents. Even though there were some pockets of violence following the slow transmission of the elections results, it is still nothing compared to the large-scale violence that was initially projected to rock the country. Several international and local poll observers have since hailed the recent elections as having been free and fair. According to Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), the recent elections were held in a peaceful and conducive environment, with all security forces and political parties respecting the will of the Zambian people. ZESN deployed a 15-member delegation covering all the nine provinces of Zambia. “The country’s 2011 general elections have been held in a peaceful and conducive environment because of the way the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), Government and all security wings have managed it,” the ZESN said in its report. “Despite a few violent acts in Lilanda, Kanyama and Nakatindi Hall owing to the delay in delivering of voting materials, the rest were peaceful.” The peaceful nature of the recent elections reinforced yet again the country’s ever blossoming democracy. Zambia has never had a life-threatening authority transition since the 1991 return of multiparty democracy. In 2001, late second republican President Frederick Chiluba peacefully handed over power to his successor, Levy Mwanawasa, whom he had handpicked to contest the general election on the former ruling party’s ticket, following the expiry of Dr Chiluba’s second and final five-year term. And after the 2008 death of Dr Mwanawasa in office, former President Rupiah Banda peacefully ascended to power after winning the presidential by-election. Mr Banda would later become Zambia’s shortest-serving republican President, having been in office only for less than three years before last month’s elections, which he lost to President Michael Sata. Ahead of the September 20 tripartite election, many people and even international organisations, predicted large-scale violence because of what they perceived to be a brewing conflict between the people’s desire to change government and the ruling party’s determination to hold on to power. As months turned to weeks and eventually days and hours before the opening of polling stations, ordinary people across the country started panicking. They flooded shopping malls to panic-buy and stock-pile whatever foodstuff they could as a shield against the ‘clashes’ that could have prevented them from going outside their homes. It is now over a week after the new President was announced and subsequently inaugurated. And all predictions of post-election violence have since died out, thereby adding impetus to the status of Zambia as a peaceful country. As in the words of Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) president Edith Nawakwi – the only woman contestant in the presidential race – time is ripe for Zambia to start focusing on development, not violence. “We need peace, we need stability and we need our people to start thinking about creating wealth at household level. Zambia is the heart of Central Africa. Anything that goes wrong here during or after the elections will affect our brothers and sisters in the region,” Ms Nawakwi commented. “Zambians must understand that in the region, everybody is busy with the development agenda; no one in southern Africa wants to start dealing with a horde of refugees that arise out of post-election conflict.” Marvin Walumba, a Lusaka resident, supports neither the ruling party nor any opposition political party in Zambia. But he is still able to acknowledge the peaceful nature of the recent election and gives credit to all the political players. “I am neither a PF nor an MMD supporter but I would like to give credit to the losing party (MMD) for staging a peaceful and transparent election. They had all the powers to manipulate the results but for the sake of peace and tranquillity, (which) our beloved country has enjoyed since independence, MMD for once put the people’s desire on top of theirs,” Mr Walumba said. “To the winner, I say ‘congratulations, you fought battles, cried foul but never gave up and in the end people jubilated over your triumph. In every story, there is the beginning and the ending. I will live to see where your story ends’.” United States President Barack Obama commended Zambia for holding peaceful elections and said it has helped the country to build on its commitment to multi-party democracy. “The hard work of a living democracy does not end when the votes are tallied and the winners announced. Instead, it offers the chance to reconcile and to advance greater security and prosperity for its people,” President Obama said. Zambia, southern Africa’s oldest democracy, has set an example for the rest of Africa and the world on how power should be transferred without incidents of violence. Former President Banda graciously conceded defeat barely few hours after President Sata had been announced winner. In his televised national address, Mr Banda called on all Zambians to rally behind the new President and ensure that the country continues on its path to economic development. United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon praised the smooth transition of power and commended the country for holding elections and upholding democratic principles in an environment that was overall peaceful and orderly. Mr Ban has also extended his praises to the ECZ for the critical role it professionally played in ensuring a credible and transparent election process. “(I) am pleased that Zambians have today shown Africa and the world that change can be brought about peacefully when democracy is allowed to flourish,” Mr Ban said. And many more people still continue speaking highly of Zambia’s recent free and fair elections that have effectively consigned all fears of violence to the dustbins of history.

Health

Giving birth a nightmare for women in Chief Kalindawalo’s area in Petauke

By DOREEN NAWA BRINGING forth life in form of a baby is a source of joy for many women and brings about fulfillment in a marriage. It is a moment when families unite to celebrate the arrival of a new family member. But this is not the case for most women in Mulimbu Village in senior Chief Kalindawalo’s area in Petauke district in Eastern Province where giving birth has not only become a burden but a nightmare. Women dread falling pregnant due to high costs and risks associated with giving birth in this area. Despite only having one clinical officer and no midwife, the nearest and only rural health centre called Luamphande has introduced child delivery charges which are beyond the reach of most rural women due to high poverty levels in these areas. This has left no option for most pregnant women who instead deliver their babies at home with the help of untrained traditional birth attendants. Giving birth at home, as cheap and convenient as it may seem, comes with its own risks and complications. According to Royce Nyaradzi Banda, a retired midwife at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH), apart from the risk of complications and even death that women face when giving birth on their own, home births often result in non-repair of perinea sensitive tissues, delayed clamping of the umbilical cord which can result in infections, and the non-use of routine examinations during labour.  Mrs Banda pointed out the need for strengthening community midwifery care to rural women. “I think the best way to handle this is to strengthen community midwifery in order to bring professional midwifery care to rural women thereby facilitating access in the face of inadequate infrastructure and inadequate resources,” she says. According to Mrs Banda, most rural women in Zambia are still fond of traditional antidotes and that when pregnant, the practice of using traditional herbs against Western style medicine is common amongst pregnant women and that this has increased the risk in child birth. “Rural women here in Zambia still strongly adhere to traditional practices and beliefs during labour and this is a trend that has proven to be difficult to fight,” she said. Mrs Banda says some of the concoctions that women take to expedite child birth could be the cause of some of the complications and that giving birth at home with the help of untrained birth attendants may pose even a greater risk because the birth attendants may fail to recognise or even alleviate these complications as they lack medical expertise. However, most women in Mulimbu Village still contend that it is not their wish to give birth at home but prevailing circumstances at the only health centre force them to. Most women complain of ill treatment by the medical personnel and the high child birth charges as some of the hindrances to accessing maternal health services.  She says the clinical officer is never there to monitor the process and that they are left to be attended to by cleaners. According to Agness Tembo, a mother of four, most rural women cannot afford transport when labour starts and other necessities like decent clothes for the unborn child due to high poverty levels in the area. She says the child-bearing charges are therefore farfetched.  “We are charged K50, 000 when you take a child that has been born at home to Luamphande Clinic to get an under-five card.  We also pay K15, 000 to the traditional birth attendants commonly known as Anya mwinu, failure to pay the said amount will land you in problems. It’s either you do not get the under-five card for the baby or the traditional birth attendant takes the matter to the induna and later to the headman,” she says. She further says besides paying child-bearing charges every pregnant woman must secure baby clothes before giving birth. Mrs Tembo says it is a prerequisite for any pregnant woman be it in rural or urban to have a towel, a complete baby suit which includes a hat, socks, a vest or dress, nappies and baby blanket. But just finding all these requirements is a nightmare for many families in Mulimbu Village.  “Money is very difficult to come by here in the village and just to be charged K65, 000 here in the village it’s unacceptable and cruel. We need government to intervene in this matter.  “Whenever I fall pregnant. I fear for myself thinking I might die any time when giving birth because I do not know what the future holds for me since we do not have a midwife at Luamphande Clinic and we also do not have trained traditional birth attendants,” Mrs Tembo said. According to Mrs Tembo, every pregnant woman hires a traditional birth attendant at their own expense to accompany them to the clinic or home once the labour pains begin. Luamphande Clinic has no midwife and is manned by one person, the clinical officer only identified as Mr Banda and has only two cleaners who also work as nurses but are not trained.  “We have a big problem here, the only medical personnel, Mr Banda who is in charge of the clinic is always out of the station and whenever you ask his children you will be told that he has gone to the Boma (Petauke). He is never there for us and that is the reason why most women end up delivering in their homes,” another resident of Mulimbu Village Dainess Zulu said. Asked why the charges were introduced, Mrs Zulu said it is a penalty fee to those that give birth at home. She said the charge is meant to discourage women from giving birth at home. “We were told that it is a penalty fee but it is not helping anyone because it is too high and mothers have continued to give birth at home and not take their babies for under-five,” Mrs Zulu said. Then giving birth at home and not taking a baby for under-five clinic becomes the preference for most women because it is cheaper. Another reason is the fact that a large proportion of pregnant women deliberately opt to give birth at home because they find hospitals to be very uncomfortable because of the unavailability of medical personnel. There are often situations where some women fail to deliver safely due to complications like the case of Temwani Njovu of the same area. Mrs Njovu says she is lucky that she is alive today. Most of her friends, she says, gave birth at their homes without any complications. The 34-year-old resident of Mulimbu Village about 24 kilometres from Petauke says her experience is different from others. Mrs Njovu says she owes her life to a good ‘Samaritan’ who gave her a lift from the junction to her village to Petauke District Hospital because her baby lay across and could not be delivered using the normal birth canal. “My baby was breech and could not be delivered using the normal birth canal. I went to the clinic and found a cleaner but Mr Banda (Clinical officer) was not there. After a few minutes, the baby came out first using the hand and my husband was told to rush me to Petauke using a bicycle. “Just when we were about to join the Great East Road, my husband stopped a vehicle. Thank God the driver accepted to give us a lift up to Petauke District Hospital. Unfortunately my baby died of suffocation, I was on the verge of death,” Mrs Njovu said. Apart from the general lack of adequate medical staff at Luamphande Clinic, rural women in this area continue to be faced with challenges such as long distances to the nearest health centres and high cost of public transport .

Last Updated ( Thursday, 19 January 2012 12:46 )