Healthier Lives for Mothers and Children

Despite significant advancements in Zambia’s healthcare, children remain at risk. Guided by our mission, our strategy places equal emphasis on the prevention and treatment of childhood illnesses. The preventive measures encompass vaccination, promoting exclusive breastfeeding, enhancing nutrition, and increasing access to safe water and sanitation, among other initiatives.Despite significant advancements in Zambia’s healthcare, children remain at risk. Guided by our mission, our strategy places equal emphasis on the prevention and treatment of childhood illnesses. The preventive measures encompass vaccination, promoting exclusive breastfeeding, enhancing nutrition, and increasing access to safe water and sanitation, among other initiatives.

Children represent hope and the future. They are precious, innocent, and beautiful. But children are also among the most vulnerable populations. 

A2HealthZ programmes adhere to the Ministry of Health and World Health Organisation’s guidelines for the Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illness (IMNCI). This approach is tailored for use in outpatient clinical settings with limited diagnostic tools, medications, and for complex clinical procedures. We collaborate with local healthcare facilities to ensure they possess both the human resources and medical supplies needed to identify and treat mothers and children effectively. In local communities, we implement the integrated community case management approach (iCCM), which empowers community health workers (CHWs) through training, provisions, and supervision to diagnose and treat or refer common, but potentially deadly, illnesses. A2HealthZ-trained community health workers also engage with communities to educate on the signs that necessitate facility care and how to prevent illness.

Increasing Access to Hospitals and Healthcare Facilities

Robust healthcare systems play a vital role in managing healthcare emergencies and addressing persistent health challenges within the communities we serve. The Zambian health facility density is inadequate; however it is on A2HealthZ’s and the Zambian Governments agenda to create an enbling enviornment and meet the minimum global health standards.

We partner with, and offer support to, existing healthcare facilities through placement of community-level volunteers; distribution of essential medicines and medical supplies; and the establishment of new facilities.

This comprehensive approach is aimed at safeguarding the well-being of women and children, while enhancing the overall state of health in Zambian communities.

Significant challenges include the general lack of access to, and availability of, care, as well as unaffordable or simply poor-quality health services.

Our approach to health system strengthening includes:

  • Enabling and improving the quality of service delivery.
  • Health workforce.
  • Health information systems.
  • Medical products and commodities.
  • Leadership and governance.

Through collaboration with facility personnel and community health workers, we enhance the referral mechanisms between communities and healthcare facilities. This includes facilitation of referrals, through case management from lower-level to higher-level healthcare facilities. Through these partnerships, we contribute to the assurance of high-quality healthcare services for the most vulnerable individuals — all in alignment with national guidelines, protocols, and reporting procedures.

Medical Donation Programme

A2HealthZ and CMMB Inc. facilitate the supply and national distribution of high-quality donated medicines and medical supplies from partners in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. Donations are distributed, free of charge, to patients in the most remote and rural areas of Zambia through partnerships with the Ministry of Health (MoH), the Zambia Medicines and Medical Supplies Agency (ZMMSA), and the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB), among other cooperating partners.

The medical donations programme aims to increase the capacity of health systems around the country to provide essential services   and   treatments to the most vulnerable, particularly through community-based primary healthcare facilities.

We distribute medical donations to a large network of approved consignees, including health facilities, NGOs, healthcare providers, and medical missions’ teams.

Over the last ten years, A2HealthZ and CMMB Inc. have provided more than $50 million worth of medicines, health commodities, and medical supplies to partners across the country, benefiting over two million Zambians. Globally, CMMB Inc. has distributed over 90 metric tons of highly needed medicines and medical supplies.

Through the medical donations programme, A2HealthZ has efficiently responded to some of the country’s worst humanitarian crises and natural disasters, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

Clean Water for Healthier Lives

The foundation of good health is established through access to clean water. Every year, hundreds of thousands of women and children lose their lives due to illnesses linked to water. Expanding accessibility to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene is paramount for overall health, education, and economic well-being.

Water is life, and clean water means health.

A2HealthZ collaborates with communities to enhance their access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene. We achieve this by building handwashing stations, wells, water storage tanks, and rainwater collection systems, all with the aim of enabling families to lead happier and healthier lives.

Improving Access to Better Nutrition

A2HealthZ has supported thousands of people in Zambia through nutrition initiatives developed to enhance health, prevent illness, and extend lifespans.

Nutritional inadequacies and malnutrition can have profoundly detrimental consequences for both children and adults. Stunting and anaemia are both common nutritional disorders. A child with stunting is more likely to suffer from malnutrition. And anaemia, which is caused by iron deficiencies, contributes significantly to maternal death.

Nutrition is a critical part of health and development.

Our proven approach is grounded in a synthesis of global best practices and insights from our local experience. Our nutrition initiatives encompass a combination of preventive and therapeutic approaches, implemented in households and healthcare facilities, such as: 

  • Optimal breastfeeding during the first six months.
  • Complementary feeding starting at six months with continued breastfeeding to two years of age and beyond.
  • Nutritional care for sick and severely malnourished children.
  • Prevention of vitamin A deficiency.
  • Adequate intake of iron and folic acid for the prevention and control of anemia.

Within every community, health agents and technical teams work in cooperation to formulate plans aimed at enhancing community members dietary patterns and nutritional intake. This, in turn, lowers the likelihood of maternal and child malnutrition and anaemia. Through home visits and the guidance of mentor mothers, women are educated and motivated to adopt the recommended practices. Health agents also encourage households practicing good nutrition and food safety practices to share their knowledge with others.

Achieving an AIDS-Free Generation

A2HealthZ believes the HIV/AIDS epidemic demands an accelerated, innovative, and flexible response grounded in safe, quality education for all, especially girls.

Zambia has made significant strides in its HIV response over the past decade, evident in the reduction of annual HIV incidence and fewer new infections among children. Despite this progress, challenges persist, with a high overall HIV burden and notable gaps in young women and children’s services. To address these issues, targeted interventions for young women and intensified efforts in paediatric HIV care are crucial. Continued investment in comprehensive HIV programmes, along with addressing social determinants, will contribute to sustaining and improving Zambia’s progress in the fight against HIV.

Increased access to antiretroviral therapy and to services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV can dramatically drive down the rate of new infections and virtually eliminate them in babies and children. A2HealthZ’s prevention activities are committed to achieving an AIDS-free generation through initiatives such as:

  • Provide community case management
  • Conducting index testing
  • Sensitising communities on SRHR
  • Referring and linking community members to health facilities and services 
  • Referring and linking community members to health facilities and services

A2HealthZ has been working toward the end of the HIV epidemic since its beginnings in Zambia.

Bringing Economic Opportunities to Women

Empowering women for economic independence is an essential priority. Women play a vital role in the well-being of their communities, providing care for vulnerable groups, including the elderly, the sick, and orphans. Regrettably, in Zambia, women often find themselves among the most economically disadvantaged and least educated members of their societies. Furthermore, entrenched gender disparities and various forms of discrimination based on religion, ethnicity, and other factors create substantial barriers to breaking free from the cycle of poverty.

A2HealthZ is deeply committed to initiatives that empower women, exemplified by our Mothers’ Clubs, microloan programs, and various economic development projects, including animal husbandry programs.

“By increasing the share of household income controlled by women, either through their own earnings or cash transfers, spending is changed in ways that benefit children.” – The World Bank

Through financial empowerment initiatives, we are helping women turn dreams into reality. Our economic empowerment initiatives include:

  • Village savings and lending associations (VSLAs)
  • Support and expansion of locally relevant income-generating activities
  • Support to climate resilient and conservation farming practices
  • Business entrepreneurship and market analysis
  • Access to financial services and training

VSLAs represent one of the oldest forms of savings groups, with millions of participants worldwide, particularly in Africa. These groups are revolutionizing microfinance by delivering sustainable financial services to rural communities. The groups focus on teaching participants to save by using their own resources. The VSLA model is founded on trust, with members collaboratively shaping rules and collectively participating in cycles of saving and lending.

Protecting the Most Vulnerable

Our initiatives support women and children who have experienced neglect, violence, exploitation, and physical and/or sexual abuse. We support the right of all women and children to survive and thrive, living up to their fullest potentials, especially children with disabilities. Our advocacy activities focus on the following areas:

Child Protection

For communities to create and maintain a protective environment for children, communities’ child protection actors must work together to form partnerships and build capacity in those who need it. Strengthening community-based child protective services takes training, mentorship, and supportive supervision, as well as cooperation among community-based child protection networks, health facilities, and relevant government entities. Psychosocial support, effective management of child-friendly spaces, child protection in emergency situations, strong referral systems, and specific training for child protection committees all make for strong, sustainable programs.

Empowering Families in Zambia

Just as it makes little sense to hospitalize individuals without first evaluating and treating their conditions, A2HealthZ does not assume that sending children who have lost a parent or two to an orphanage should be the default procedure. Under the Kusamala project for GHR Foundation, A2HealthZ is working with government social welfare agencies to strengthen their capacity to protect and empower families and communities to protect and nurture their children, to prevent child separation, and to restore children to their families and communities if they have been separated. The spirit of compassion that grounds the project is embodied in its name (“to care for” in Nyanja). We have trained hundreds of health facility staff and neighborhood health committees to recognize child protection issues and to utilize best-practice child protection and alternative care methods. A2HealthZ  is also establishing family support groups and village savings and loan associations to further support the families and communities.

Children with disabilities 

Children with disabilities (CWDs) represent one of Zambia’s most vulnerable and underserved groups. A2HealthZ is committed to empowering and strengthening CWDs and their families as part of its impact areas. Collaborating with health professionals, community caregivers, and parents, A2HealthZ provides guidance and support while closely monitoring CWDs’ growth, hemoglobin levels, and feeding. In partnership with the SPOON Foundation, this collaboration ensures proper guidance and referrals for parents in caring for their children. Furthermore, community caregivers conduct case management in the targeted communities, imparting essential skills such as basic physiotherapy, feeding techniques, positioning, communication, and toileting. They also deliver messages on CWDs’ rights and work towards reducing stigma. Additionally, parents and their CWDs are invited to participate in play therapy sessions and cooking demonstrations.

Preventing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

Violence against women and girls is a major public health problem and a violation of women’s human rights. Over their lifetime, a substantial portion of the world’s women have experienced intimate partner violence, either physical, sexual, or non-partner sexual violence.