US cuts aid to Zambia over 'systematic' medicine theft

The US has announced that it is cutting $50m (£37m) successful assistance to Zambia's wellness sector, owed to the country's nonaccomplishment to code the "systematic theft" of donated drugs and aesculapian supplies.

This "difficult" determination was taken aft repeated warnings to the Zambian authorities to safeguard captious drugs meant for the country's astir susceptible patients, said US ambassador to Zambia Michael Gonzales.

"We are nary longer consenting to underwrite the idiosyncratic enrichment of fraudsters oregon the corrupt erstwhile patients spell without oregon person to bargain life-saving medications that we person provided for free," helium added.

The Zambian authorities is yet to comment.

The cuts are abstracted to the sweeping overseas assistance frost announced by President Donald Trump successful January.

The Zambian wellness assemblage is heavy funded by overseas donors, but determination person been erstwhile reports of wide misappropriation and corruption involving elder wellness officials.

• 'My woman fears sex, I fearfulness death' - impacts of the USAID freeze
• US cuts nonstop South Africa's HIV attraction 'off a cliff'

The US accounts for astir a 3rd of nationalist wellness spending successful Zambia according to a connection from the US embassy successful the country.

But US officials said they had discovered the "country-wide theft" of aesculapian products that were intended to beryllium distributed for escaped to the nationalist but were present being sold by backstage pharmacies.

More than 2,000 pharmacies crossed Zambia were recovered selling donated drugs and aesculapian supplies successful a year-long probe conducted by the US embassy.

"Shockingly, crossed these visits, 95 percent of the pharmacies that were selling the kinds of products that the United States provides, were besides selling stolen goods," the connection said.

Nearly fractional of the pharmacies visited were recovered selling medicine and supplies donated by the US government, it said.

Other pharmacies were besides recovered selling stolen aesculapian stocks purchased by the Zambian government, the Global Fund, and Zambia's different donor partners, it added.

The US embassy said it had presented its findings and offered experts for enactment to halt further theft and to bring the culprits to justness successful April past twelvemonth but nary enactment was taken.

"I regret that to date, the government's actions person fallen drastically abbreviated of demonstrating a committedness to safeguarding US assistance and the lives we purpose to save," the embassy said.

Zambia's instrumentality enforcement operations person focused connected "low-level actors" and person led to the apprehension of "only a fewer mid-level officials" alternatively of investigating proviso sources and pursuing the masterminds down the theft of medicines, according to the US embassy.

Gonzales said the US "can nary longer warrant to the American payer continuing to supply specified monolithic levels of assistance."

He said the cuts would impact drugs to dainty malaria, HIV and TB.

"This is not a determination we person taken lightly," Gonzales said, shedding tears arsenic helium explained however the measurement would impact Zambian patients.

The assistance cuts volition instrumentality effect January adjacent twelvemonth to springiness the Zambian authorities clip to make alternate arrangements but helium said "the determination had been made".

Since the Trump medication took office, it has chopped billions of dollars successful planetary wellness programmes, hitting African countries including Zambia, wherever HIV remains a large menace particularly for adolescents and young adults.

Trump announced the assistance frost connected his archetypal time successful bureau successful January successful enactment with his "America First" overseas policy.

The assistance cuts person affected wellness programmes crossed Africa, including shipments of captious aesculapian supplies, including HIV drugs.

The bulk of the US Agency for International Development's (USAID) programmes, which provided wellness and humanitarian assistance to susceptible nations, have since been terminated.

In March, Zambia's President Hakainde Hichilema said Trump had "slapped america connected some cheeks", saying it was clip for his state to fortify its treasury to procure its ain medicines.