More than a quarter of Zambians live in 2 major urban areas, the rest living in sparsely populated areas making a living from subsistence farming. Since independence in 1960 Zambia has found peace but now has a big problem involving HIV/AIDS. One in every six adults is living with HIV/AIDS and it is spreading rapidly. It is becoming a huge problem that the government is finding hard to control. It has affected many individuals, the population and the country as a whole.
As Zambia is considered a LEDC (Less Economically Developed Country) it has less money and can't afford to pay for medicine and health care. Zambia's GDP is very low meaning the amount of money each household has is not enough to keep them clothed and fed.
The impact on Zambia's population structure is that it has become smaller in the middle age range and larger in the lower and higher age ranges. Here is an example of what it could look like.
This change in population structure can have many affects on both individuals and the country as a whole. Many individuals with HIV/AIDS are ashamed of it and so won't tell anyone that they have it. This means that it spreads more quickly. Around 60% of all orphans in Zambia have lost their parents to AIDS meaning that orphanages are often overcrowded. Death of parents can often lead to family breakdowns as no one is there to look after their children. Many brothers and sisters are separated from each other causing them to feel alone and unwanted. In many villages or communities grandparent look after children but as no one is economically active it becomes hard to survive. If adults are ill they cannot gain easy access to anti-retroviral drugs causing them to die earlier. Emotional children or families cannot get counseling to help them through causing them to feel alone, hopeless and sometime as if there is no point in living. In a survey done in Zambia it was found that people went to more funerals than weddings.
There is also a lot of pressure on the country itself as with the lack of working adults no one is paying taxes to keep the health care systems going. Hospitals cannot cope with the lack of beds because of many people being in the latter stages of AIDS. Health care professionals are affected by the cases and there is not enough of them to administer drugs. It has been found that community based health care is the most successful however this is not cheap causing the government to be in severe debt.
Agriculture is the main industry in Zambia and many other African countries. It has been found that in HIV/AIDS seriously affected houses the workforce did 11-16 hours a week compared to 31-33 hours in non AIDS households.
As the number of children grows the economically dependent people also grows although the number of economically active is decreasing. Life expectancy has fallen dramatically in Zambia from 68.6 to just 34.4 years. Fewer children have basic education for these reasons:
- The removal of children from school to care for parents
- Parents cannot afford school fees and other expenses
- More children are infected and are either not living long enough to start school or not surviving the years of schooling.
This makes it hard for Zambia to develop as less people are educated. Some teachers may have HIV/AIDS so are unable to work.
HIV/AIDS dramatically affects labour setting back economic activity and social progress. The vast majority of people living with HIV/AIDS are between the ages of 15 and 49, in the prime of their working lives.
HIV/AIDS has affected Zambia in a bad way but can it ever be resolved? It has affected both individuals and the country itself but hope has come. Contraceptives have now been bought into parts of Zambia to try and cut down the spread of HIV/AIDS. Medicine has been brought over from richer countries to try and help HIV/AIDS sufferers but as most of them cannot not afford to but it how will it?
