A new tool to track progress and identify gaps in health programming in Zambia has been launched. The Zambia Integrated Health Situation Room centralizes data for HIV, tuberculosis, maternal and child health and malaria to improve programming and reach more people with services.
The situation room—the first integrated situation room in Africa—was launched on 6 March by Inonge Mutukwa Wina, the Vice-President of Zambia, and Michel Sidibé, the Executive Director of UNAIDS. It shows real-time service delivery data and produces a comprehensive picture of key health areas in Zambia.
Enabling quick feedback on results at the county and community levels, the situation room identifies bottlenecks to service delivery. It also enables programme staff to intensify local efforts to ensure that adults and children living with HIV have regular access to care and that HIV medicines are replenished quickly if stock-outs occur.
Earlier in the day, Mr Sidibé congratulated Edgar Chagwa Lungu, the President of Zambia, for his government’s leadership in ensuring that no one is left behind by the AIDS response in Zambia. Mr Lungu expressed his commitment to ensuring access to medicines and expressed his commitment to local pharmaceutical production. He reiterated his commitment to not only reach the 90‒90‒90 targets, but to make the target of reaching 100% of people living with HIV in Zambia a reality.
“There is nothing magical or mystical about health. People are the most important resource we have in Zambia and I am committed to ensuring the highest standards of health for all Zambian citizens.”
Edward Chagwa Lungu President of Zambia
“Zambia demonstrates that we can make a difference in the response to disease. The response of the government, civil society and communities to the recent cholera outbreak clearly shows this. We will make the dream of ending AIDS a reality.”
Michel Sidibé UNAIDS Executive Director
“Since the presidential launch of the test and treat initiative, the number of people tested for HIV and put on HIV treatment has shown a significant increase. This clearly shows that Zambia is heading in the right direction towards epidemic control.”
Chitalu Chilufya Minister of Health, Zambia
