JCTR PRESS RELEASE 15 NOVEMBER 2010

ZAMBIA MUST URGENTLY RESPOND TO THE WORSENING HUMAN

DEVELOPMENT, SAYS JCTR

Zambia has recorded commendable progress on the macroeconomic front with growth rates averaging six (6)
percent and inflation rate slowing down to single digit. In October 2010, inflation rate further reduced to 7.3%
from 7.7% in September 2010.

However, this economic progress has not benefited the people as evidenced by the recently released 2010
Human Development Report entitled, “The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development”, which
revealed that Zambia’s human development situation has deteriorated since 1970.

According to the report, of the 135 countries in their sample for 1970 to 2010, only three (3) countries, Zambia,
Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe have a lower Human Development Index (HDI) today than in
1970. The HDI is a simple composite measure, which combines information on life expectancy, schooling and
income. “The results therefore mean that Zambia is among the only 3 countries where people are worse off than
they were in 1970 in terms of health, education and levels of income” says Ms. Miniva Chibuye, Coordinator of
the Social Conditions Programme at the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR).

The question to ask is, why has the situation deteriorated despite Zambia facing relative peace, political and
economic stability in comparison to the other two countries? Why is it that countries such as Saudi Arabia that
started off at the same level as Zambia in 1970 are now in the list of “top movers”?

According to the report, one of the major contributing factors for Zambia has been the worsening health
situation as measured by life expectancy, which is now at 47.3 years. At the time of the first Human
Development Report, life expectancy was at 54 years. The reduction has been attributed to a high burden of
HIV and AIDS epidemic, which made the country the fifth highest HIV prevalence in the world. Though strides
have been made as recorded in the 2007 Zambia Demographic Health Survey, access to ARVs is still being
denied to many who require the drugs. For example, according to a WHO/UNAIDS/UNICEF Epidemiological
Fact Sheet on HIV and AIDS Zambia update Report, in 2007, only 151,000 of the 330,000 needing Anti
Retroviral Treatment were on treatment.

Regarding education, the report stated that the current mean years of schooling is 6.5 years and the expected
years of schooling is 7.2. “While this shows progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goal of
achieving universal primary education” says Ms. Chibuye, “both the mean and expected level of education is
too low to enable sustained economic progress through meaningful contribution to the economy”. To make
significant progress towards human development, Zambia must look beyond meeting the MDG target on
primary education to enabling more pupils complete secondary education and enter tertiary education. This
requires improving the quality of education and contributing towards the cognitive development of pupils
through scaling up the school health and nutrition programme. This is critical for Zambia due to the high levels
of hunger, especially in rural areas. Currently, 51% of Zambians are unable to meet their daily requirement of
food. Therefore, without treating this as a matter of urgency, progress towards economic growth and poverty
reduction will be undermined.

This situation of worsening human development is further exacerbated by the high cost of living. For instance,
according to the Basic Needs Basket (BNB) survey -- a measure of the cost of basic food and non-food items
most commonly consumed by a typical family size of six -- conducted by JCTR, the norminal average cost of
living in Lusaka in October 2010 was K2,877,830. For the cost of food alone, which includes mealiemeal,
vegetables, beans, dry fish, etc., the monthly average increased by K27,150 to K895,000 in comparison with
K867,850 in September 2010. The rest of the BNB is made up of very essential non-food items such as housing,
water and energy. According to Ms. Chibuye, “despite the overall level of inflation going down as reported by
the Central Statistics Office, it was noted that prices of commodities typically consumed by average Zambians
increased in prices”.
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Clearly, there is need for prompt action to propel the country back to its 1970 levels and move beyond that.
The JCTR reiterates its position that there should not only be increased public spending to the three critical
sectors of education, health and agriculture but also a focus on particular sector budget lines requiring attention.
This includes, improving the quality of service delivery by recruiting and providing more remuneration for the
health personnel, teachers and agriculture extension services.

Within the education sector, Government should not be complacent with meeting the MDG Goal on primary
education but instead, focus on enabling more pupils to complete secondary school and entering tertiary
education. This is critical as some studies have indicated that there is an expected 8 to 10 percent increase in
wages per year of schooling. Regarding the health sector, it is imperative to increase ARV access levels if
Zambia is to reverse the deteriorating health situation.

Perhaps more importantly, addressing poverty and hunger through among others improved nutrition can help
mitigate impacts on diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria as well as improvements in both child and
maternal health.

Indeed, it is only by investing in people that accelerated poverty reduction and sustained economic development
will be attained.

[For more information, contact Social Conditions Programme of the JCTR, P. O. Box 37774,
Lusaka, Zambia; tel: 260-211-290410; fax: 260-1-290759; e-mail: jctr@jesuits.org.zm; internet:
www.jctr.org.zm