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effects in Zambia  29 Oct 1999  "Africa's Hidden Killers"  Mark
Lynas, Lusaka, Zambia October 1999  "The problem with taking a
blood sample for your malaria test is that the cockroaches may
eat it in the night," announced the nurse. "Ants are an even
worse problem. The place is infested with them." Siavonga
hospital, on the shores of Lake Karibe in southern Zambia, is
suffering. "We have to put patients with TB in the same room as
women who are giving birth," says one of the four Cuban doctors
who battle to run the place. They also have to charge fees for
their healthcare, and patients have to provide their own
medicines, syringes and clean needles. What if they can't afford
to pay? The doctor shrugs. "What do you think? They die."
People are dying. Quietly, but in huge numbers, all over Zambia,
lives are being wasted. Wasted not