Zambia Program Profile

The SHOPS project implemented a four-year program funded by the United States Agency for International Development (October 2010 to December 2013) in Zambia that had two objectives: (1) strengthen the delivery of family planning and reproductive health, and maternal, newborn, and child health services through the private sector by addressing business constraints; and (2) increase the number of new health workers in Zambia to address the HIV and AIDS epidemic and other public health issues by strengthening private pre-service education. This profile presents the goals, components, results, and the following lessons learned from the SHOPS program in Zambia:

• Additional work is needed to promote lending to the health sector.
• Economic and financial factors affected lending to private providers.
• Business counseling is an important tool to reinforce training.
• Creating a sustainable market for business training and counseling services takes time.
• Strengthening the business operations of private medical training institutes can lead to an increase in student enrollment.
• Lack of student finance in Zambia is a constraint to the growth of private medical training institutes.
• Private providers need to advocate for their interests.
• Linkages between the private sector and public health initiatives in Zambia are needed.