A study on the impact of IMF structural adjustment programs (SAPs) on the Zambian Health Sector

Abstract

Zambia’s recent economic performance can be attributed to a mix of domestic and international unfavourable factors. The Zambian economy is in a downward deteriorating situation. Right up to 1970’s Zambia had one of the wealthiest economies in Sub Saharan Africa. With the economy that was and still is highly dependent on copper mining contributing about 90 % of the country’s exports. There has been a prolonged slump in copper prices due to slowing demands and this has seen the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth to continue dropping and currently at growth rate of 3.9 %. In 1994 GDP reached record low of -8.63% where as in 1964 it was at a high of 16.65%. Zambia first adopted the Structural Adjustment Programs(SAPs) in 1983. External fragility has seemingly increased due to the worsening trade position and rising sovereign debt. It is against this backdrop of literature that Zambia particularly in the health sector found itself trapped between the SAP driven policies and the delivery of health service in Zambia. A number of literature has either argued for or against the impact of SAP driven policies in Zambia. Literature shows that the Zambian health sector progressed in the late 1970s and had programmes that enhanced this progress. However, after the Government embarked on SAP in the 1980s, this program led to the abandonment of critical health programmes and the programs that where then adopted had critical consequences on the communities. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the extent to which health policies taken after the implementation of the IMF/WB SAPs have influenced the growth of the health sector and the impact they have had on the communities in Zambia. In this study we used qualitative research of valuable literature from different online sources and secondary and primary sources. The study implored a systematic search of literature from websites such as the ministry of Health website in Zambia, PubMed, and the central statistical office in Zambia, world health organisation and to other academic websites. The main aim was to form empirical evidence and hypotheses on the relationship between SAP and the health sector in Zambia. In conclusion, though the policy reforms were aimed at improving the servicing of IMF loans the drastic consequences were more unbearable on the people of Zambia