FUNDING GAPS, DRUG SHORTAGES THREATEN HEALTHCARE

Health leaders demand timely financing, stronger partnerships and urgent action against cholera as Zambia pursues its development goals.

By Francis Maingaila ♥️

Lusaka, Zambia24 — 13 October 2026 —

Zambia’s efforts to improve healthcare are facing a familiar challenge: hospitals and clinics need money released on time, medicines must reach patients when they need them, and preventable diseases such as cholera must be brought under control before more lives are lost.

Health leaders say these challenges cannot be ignored as the country pursues its development ambitions. Behind the figures on health budgets and investment plans are patients waiting for treatment, families struggling to access care and health workers expected to deliver services even when supplies and funding are not readily available.

Permanent Secretary responsible for Donor Coordination George Sinyangwe said stronger cooperation between Government and its partners was necessary to address the country’s health needs.

He said Zambia needed to make better use of available resources, improve coordination and ensure that planned investments translated into services for ordinary people.

Sinyangwe said Government was working on a National Health Compact and developing a health impact investment platform with the World Health Organisation (WHO).

He also said an implementation plan under the memorandum of understanding with the United States was expected to be finalised within 45 days.

He said reforms at the Zambia Medicines and Medical Supplies Agency (ZAMSA), alongside efforts to increase local production, were important in improving the availability of medicines and reducing pressure on the supply chain.

But health leaders say plans and commitments must be matched by timely funding and reliable supplies. For a patient who has travelled a long distance to a health facility, the real measure of progress is whether the medicine is available and treatment can begin without unnecessary delays.

Health Cooperating Partners lead Ana Armstrong said 26 major partners were mapping their planned investments for 2027, with more than US$200 million expected to be involved.

She warned, however, that some districts had no external funding mapped out, raising concerns about whether health needs across the country would receive adequate support.

Armstrong said Government and its partners needed to ensure that resources reached health facilities when required.

She also stressed the importance of completing the 2027–2031 National Health Strategic Plan and strengthening the One Plan, One Budget, One Report approach so that partners could work towards shared priorities instead of operating separately.

She said the National Health Insurance Management Authority (NHIMA) had reportedly reached more than 3.5 million people, while the next cycle of Global Fund support, known as Cycle 8, would also be important to sustaining health programmes.

Armstrong said development plans must reflect the conditions people face in their communities. In Petauke, where the population is estimated at about 240,000, figures attributed to the Ministry of Finance indicate that there are only six doctors.

She said economic development, including mining, must go hand in hand with investment in health services so that communities benefit from both economic activity and access to care.

Zambia has recorded progress in some areas of healthcare, but serious challenges remain. Maternal mortality stands at 187 deaths per 100,000 live births, while under-five mortality is 42 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Skilled birth attendance has risen above 90 per cent, childhood stunting has fallen from 32 per cent to 15 per cent, and childhood vaccination coverage stands at 90 per cent.

Health leaders say these gains need to be protected and extended. Every maternal death and every child who dies from a preventable illness represents a family left grieving and a reminder that access to quality healthcare remains a matter of life and death.

Funding difficulties are also affecting services for women and children. Health leaders reported that some gender-based violence interventions had been paralysed by changes in funding arrangements, leaving programmes that support vulnerable people struggling to continue their work.

Churches Health Association of Zambia (CHAZ) representative Yorum Siame warned that the cholera situation was another serious threat to public health and the country’s development plans.

As of October 12, 2026, Zambia had recorded more than 781 suspected cholera cases and about 21 deaths, according to figures cited by Siame.

He said the outbreak required urgent attention because cholera could spread quickly where access to safe water and sanitation was inadequate.

Siame said the effects of the outbreak went beyond the immediate health emergency. If communities continued to face cholera, the consequences could undermine food production, tourism, economic growth and efforts to reduce poverty under the Grow Zambia agenda.

He called for a coordinated national response that puts safe water, sanitation and community education at the centre of cholera prevention.

He also stressed the need for local authorities and communities to be actively involved because preventing an outbreak requires action beyond hospitals and clinics.

Siame said the 2027 national budget should provide more support for health services, while partnerships such as UNICEF’s Match Fund co-financing arrangement could help strengthen nutrition programmes.

He said communities needed practical support to prevent disease and protect children, rather than relying on emergency interventions after people had already fallen ill.

The private health sector has also raised concerns about the financial pressure facing healthcare providers.

Healthcare Federation representative Dr. Chrispin Moyo said delays in NHIMA reimbursements were creating serious cash-flow problems for providers.

He said hospitals and other facilities needed to pay staff, purchase medicines and meet daily operating costs, even when payments for services already provided were delayed.

Moyo said the situation was making it difficult for some providers to restock medicines and maintain the full range of services.

He warned that when healthcare facilities struggle financially, patients can end up bearing the consequences through reduced access to treatment.

He said better integration of electronic health records was expected by the end of 2027, a move that could improve the sharing of patient information and the administration of services.

However, he also raised concerns about taxes on medical equipment and packaging, as well as the cost of operating within regulatory requirements.

Moyo said some large hospitals faced annual licensing and compliance costs of about K300,000. He called for the operating environment to be examined so that healthcare providers could continue serving patients without unnecessary financial pressure.

The proposed US$2 billion Lusaka Medical City was also raised during discussions on investment in healthcare.

Moyo highlighted the importance of major investments, while health leaders stressed the need to strengthen existing facilities and ensure that people across the country could access services.

Moyo also called for more opportunities to train specialist health workers in the private sector. He said developing specialist skills was important for improving the range and quality of services available to patients within Zambia.

Civil Society Health Partnership Executive Director Dr Humphrey Monde said Government had made commitments to strengthen the health workforce, including the recruitment of 40,000 health workers, among them 25,000 community health workers.

Monde said the commitments needed sustained funding and effective implementation if they were to improve access to care.

Community health workers, in particular, play an important role in connecting households with health services, providing health information and helping communities identify problems before they become more serious.

He said the 2026 national health budget stood at K26.2 billion, while the allocation for medicines had increased from K4.9 billion in 2025 to K6.4 billion in 2026.

He said such investments were important, but their impact would depend on whether funds were released and used effectively and whether medicines reached the facilities where patients needed them.

Monde said civil society organisations were supporting efforts to improve public health through the Green and Health campaign. He emphasised that preventing illness was just as important as treating it, particularly in communities where poor sanitation, unsafe water and limited access to health information increase the risk of disease.

“Prevention is better than cure,” Monde said, calling for greater investment in measures that help people stay healthy instead of waiting until illnesses become emergencies.

He also appealed for continued support from cooperating partners to help civil society organisations coordinate their work and contribute to national health priorities.

The concerns raised by Government, cooperating partners, churches, private healthcare providers and civil society point to the same challenge: Zambia needs health financing that arrives when it is needed, medicines that are available when patients seek treatment, and stronger prevention efforts to stop avoidable illnesses and deaths.

For families seeking care, the success of health reforms will not be measured by the number of plans launched or meetings held. It will be felt when a sick child receives treatment without delay, when a mother can give birth safely, when a clinic has the medicines it needs and when communities no longer live in fear of preventable outbreaks.

As Zambia pursues its development goals, health leaders say the country must ensure that its ambitions are matched by action on the ground, where the need for reliable and affordable healthcare is most urgent.