Thursday, June 28, 2007
My day in Zambia is a day of celebration: a day filled with dancing and drumming, laughter and song and many warm gestures of friendship. It's a day to celebrate the strong ties between the United States and Zambia, and a chance to celebrate the basis of those ties: a dedication to quality education, good health and renewed life.
Life Expectancy: 38 years
The joy I witness in Zambia is especially powerful because it's expressed against a backdrop of profound suffering and enormous challenges. In Zambia, more than a million people -- over 16% of the adult population -- are infected with HIV/AIDS. The disease has made orphans out of more than 700,000 Zambian children. In this country of 11.5 million people, there are 4 million cases of malaria every year. 50,000 people (most of them babies and young children) are killed by the disease, despite the fact that malaria is treatable and preventable. The average life expectancy is just 38 years.
I learn how Zambia's government is addressing these crises early in the day, during a meeting with President Levy Mwanawasa, and his wife Maureen, at the Presidential Palace. President Mwanawasa asks me to thank President Bush and the American people for their commitment to eradicating poverty and disease and for supporting development partnerships between Zambia and the United States.