Zambia Fails to Win $42 Million AIDS Loan

Zambia has failed to agree to a $42 million loan package with the World Bank to fight AIDS -- described by the Finance Ministry as the country's biggest development challenge. Diplomatic sources said the deal should have been sealed in October when a World Bank mission toured Zambia, but the mission left without an agreement because health and finance ministry officials were unavailable for crucial talks. The World Bank package included a $6 million component for AIDS drug cocktails, which would have been a huge boost in a country where AIDS medicines cost an average $60 a month and civil service wages average only $75 a month. As part of the loan deal, the Zambian parliament should have enacted a law criminalizing the deliberate transmission of AIDS, created a national AIDS council, and transferred AIDS drugs procurement to the vice presidency from the health ministry. On Monday, the government admitted that reaching an agreement had taken too long but denied snubbing World Bank officials. One in five adult Zambians have HIV/AIDS.

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