Industrial Policy in Context: Comparative Experiences from Chile and Zambia

This article tries to draw lessons from Chile for Zambia on innovative industrial policy and strategies that lead to industrial transformation and job creation. The creation of quality jobs for the increasingly skilled youth requires significant efforts. Industrial policy has been argued to have the potential to contribute to the creation of employment through support for new and old initiatives in the economy. In the case of Zambia, the economy has mainly been dominated by the mining sector, where the creation of jobs has been very small, whereas the comparator country Chile developed an institutional framework for industrial policy that addressed market failures and encouraged innovation concentrated in specific sectors. These were attainable given the country’s existing or potential comparative advantage and therefore had strong growth prospects and impacted on job creation. The study finds that Chile provides a rich experience that Zambia can learn from in creating labour intensive job opportunities especially for youths

Industrial Policy in Context: Comparative Experiences from Chile and Zambia

This article tries to draw lessons from Chile for Zambia on innovative industrial policy and strategies that lead to industrial transformation and job creation. The creation of quality jobs for the increasingly skilled youth requires significant efforts. Industrial policy has been argued to have the potential to contribute to the creation of employment through support for new and old initiatives in the economy. In the case of Zambia, the economy has mainly been dominated by the mining sector, where the creation of jobs has been very small, whereas the comparator country Chile developed an institutional framework for industrial policy that addressed market failures and encouraged innovation concentrated in specific sectors. These were attainable given the country’s existing or potential comparative advantage and therefore had strong growth prospects and impacted on job creation. The study finds that Chile provides a rich experience that Zambia can learn from in creating labour intensive job opportunities especially for youths

Impact of the coronavirus disease on the mental health and physical activity of pharmacy students at the University of Zambia: a cross-sectional study

Background: The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a serious global health problem that has negatively impacted the mental health of students.Methods: We conducted an online descriptive cross-sectional study among 273 undergraduate pharmacy students at the University of Zambia from August to September 2020. A partial proportional odds regression model was used to determine the predictors of anxiety. All statistical tests were set at 95% confidence level (p<0.05).Results: A response rate of 70% was obtained with the majority of the students being female 51.6%. Of the 273 respondents, 23.8% did not experience anxiety, 34.4% experienced mild anxiety, 24.9% experienced moderate anxiety while 16.9% experienced severe anxiety about COVID-19. It was also found that 61.2% of students reported that their attention to mental health increased during the COVID-19 pandemic whereas 44.3% reported an increased resting time with a significant reduction in relaxation 51.3% and physical activity 45.4% time. Factors that affected mental health included; reduced family care (OR: 2.27; 95% CI: 1.09-4.74), not changing attention to mental health (OR: 0.33; 95% CI: 0.18-0.62), being in the final year of study (OR: 0.33; 95% CI: 0.13-0.84), reduced time of resting (OR: 2.10; 95% CI: 1.26-3.50) and feeling helpless (OR: 0.42; 95% CI:0.23-0.75).Conclusions: COVID-19 negatively impacted the mental health and physical activity of pharmacy students at the University of Zambia. This can have negative health and academic outcomes for students going forward. Higher learning institutions and key stakeholders should implement measures to aid students to recover from the impact of COVID-19 on their mental health and physical activity

The Global Financial Crisis and Developing Countries: Phase 2 Synthesis

When the global financial crisis broke out in earnest in September 2008, it quickly became clear that developing countries would also be affected, but that the impacts would vary markedly. The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) coordinated a multi-country study over January-March 2009 involving developing country teams in 10 countries. This showed that, while the transmission mechanisms were similar in each (trade, private capital flows, remittances, aid), the effects varied by country, and much was not yet visible. As such, further country-specific monitoring was required. Most findings suggested that, as a result of time lags, the worst effects were yet to come. This synthesis of the effects of the global financial crisis on developing countries updates the description of the economic and social situation during the course of the crisis in 11 countries

Development of evaluation framework for the selection of run-of-river hydropower potential sites to be included in the Zambian Hydropower Atlas

Hydropower is a source of renewable energy, which provides clean electricity around the world with lower greenhouse gas emissions than other sources of energy. Zambia's electricity deficit has been increasing in recent years. As of 2019, over 1.9 million households (57.6%) had no access to electricity and over 96% of the rural population are still without electricity. This calls for attention and sustainable solutions to electrification as reinforced by goal number 7 of the sustainable development goals. Such solutions include the development of a Zambian Hydropower Atlas that can showcase the country's hydropower potential including small-scale technologies, which can boost Zambia's electrification by providing green electricity. The aim of this study was to develop a run-of-river evaluation framework for the selection of hydropower potential sites to be included in the Zambian Hydropower Atlas. The data and formulas required to evaluate hydropower potential were identified and evaluated to develop the evaluation process in the Zambian context. The developed evaluation framework was applied to an existing run-of-river hydropower site located in Zambia to show its application, and it estimated the hydropower potential at the site within a deviation of 14%. The developed evaluation framework can give a first-order evaluation of hydropower potential. HIGHLIGHTS The development of a Zambian Hydropower Atlas can showcase Zambia's hydropower potential.; The run-of-river hydropower evaluation framework was developed as a first step in the development of the Zambian Hydropower Atlas.; The developed evaluation framework can provide a first-order selection of hydropower potential sites to be included in the Zambian Hydropower Atlas within a deviation of 14%.

Industrial Growth and Policy in Zambia: Lessons from South Korea

This paper discusses the divergence in industrial growth for two countries Zambia and South Korea and tries to draw lessons from South Korea for Zambia’s industrial policy and strategies that leads to industrial transformation and job creation. The conceptual framework argues that South Korea having evolved into a developmental state was fundamental to its transformation to an industrial state while Zambia failed to advance beyond the development state status

Enhanced infection prophylaxis reduces mortality in severely immunosuppressed HIV-infected adults and older children initiating antiretroviral therapy in Kenya, Malawi, Uganda and Zimbabwe: the REALITY trial

Meeting abstract FRAB0101LB from 21st International AIDS Conference 18–22 July 2016, Durban, South Africa. Introduction: Mortality from infections is high in the first 6 months of antiretroviral therapy (ART) among HIV‐infected adults and children with advanced disease in sub‐Saharan Africa. Whether an enhanced package of infection prophylaxis at ART initiation would reduce mortality is unknown. Methods: The REALITY 2×2×2 factorial open‐label trial (ISRCTN43622374) randomized ART‐naïve HIV‐infected adults and children >5 years with CD4 <100 cells/mm3. This randomization compared initiating ART with enhanced prophylaxis (continuous cotrimoxazole plus 12 weeks isoniazid/pyridoxine (anti‐tuberculosis) and fluconazole (anti‐cryptococcal/candida), 5 days azithromycin (anti‐bacterial/protozoal) and single‐dose albendazole (anti‐helminth)), versus standard‐of‐care cotrimoxazole. Isoniazid/pyridoxine/cotrimoxazole was formulated as a scored fixed‐dose combination. Two other randomizations investigated 12‐week adjunctive raltegravir or supplementary food. The primary endpoint was 24‐week mortality. Results: 1805 eligible adults (n = 1733; 96.0%) and children/adolescents (n = 72; 4.0%) (median 36 years; 53.2% male) were randomized to enhanced (n = 906) or standard prophylaxis (n = 899) and followed for 48 weeks (3.8% loss‐to‐follow‐up). Median baseline CD4 was 36 cells/mm3 (IQR: 16–62) but 47.3% were WHO Stage 1/2. 80 (8.9%) enhanced versus 108(12.2%) standard prophylaxis died before 24 weeks (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) = 0.73 (95% CI: 0.54–0.97) p = 0.03; Figure 1) and 98(11.0%) versus 127(14.4%) respectively died before 48 weeks (aHR = 0.75 (0.58–0.98) p = 0.04), with no evidence of interaction with the two other randomizations (p > 0.8). Enhanced prophylaxis significantly reduced incidence of tuberculosis (p = 0.02), cryptococcal disease (p = 0.01), oral/oesophageal candidiasis (p = 0.02), deaths of unknown cause (p = 0.02) and (marginally) hospitalisations (p = 0.06) but not presumed severe bacterial infections (p = 0.38). Serious and grade 4 adverse events were marginally less common with enhanced prophylaxis (p = 0.06). CD4 increases and VL suppression were similar between groups (p > 0.2). Conclusions: Enhanced infection prophylaxis at ART initiation reduces early mortality by 25% among HIV‐infected adults and children with advanced disease. The pill burden did not adversely affect VL suppression. Policy makers should consider adopting and implementing this low‐cost broad infection prevention package which could save 3.3 lives for every 100 individuals treated