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Preventive Care
Nutrition.
A report from the United Nations in 2014 listed Zambia as the most malnourished country in all of Africa! Zambia was second in the world behind Haiti! This is clearly a serious problem since malnourished is intricately tied to overall health and well-being.
So, it is critical that we understand why Zambians are so malnourished. The reason is not because Zambians have less to eat than other nations. The problem is basically due to what Zambians eat: nshima (which is dried maize/corn that is ground up and cooked in water). Nshima makes up about 80% or more of the Zambian diet. In the northern Zambia they eat more cassava (which is also all starch). Nshima or cassava is eaten by dipping it into a vegetable like soup. Very little protein is consumed.
It is, therefore, critical to to the long-term health and well-being of Zambia that we teach nutrition and teach Zambians to how to eat in a way that is more healthy and balanced. This must be combined with agricultural training (introducing alternative foods), food-preservation, and other essential preventive measures. We have found this, however, to be a major challenge as Zambians love their nshima (cassava) and quite resistant to change.
HIV-AIDS Prevention.
Reliable estimates of the number of people infected with the HIV-AIDS virus have been difficult to find; but it has been estimated that between 20-25% of the population is infected with the virus. Of particular concern are those estimates that suggest as many as one-fourth of all women of child-bearing age are infected. And, although there are some reasons to believe the infection rate has slowed in recent years, then number of people infected is huge. This presents a serious healthcare crisis for the country (as for most African countries). Thus, part of the DBC curriculum includes training in HIV-AIDS Prevention.
Food Preservation.
Although our agricultural training program empowers students to grow food year round, there is still the need to teach students and their wives how they might preserve various foods that might be seasonal or have a short expiration (quickly spoil). Thus, the training program at DBC teaches students and their wives some new and creative ways to preserve food that quickly spoils. Such food preservation is important to improving the overall health of Zambians.
Malaria Prevention.
Since there currently a few, if any, medicines that can treat or prevent malaria, it is critical to health and well-being (especially for villagers) that students learn how to prevent malaria and employ strategies to increase survivability (especially for children).
It is estimated that half of the children of Zambia die before 12 years of age. Malaria is one of the top causes. There are many preventive measures that can be implemented (e.g., eliminating areas of standing water, treatment of latrines, mosquito nets, etc.). Nutrition is also a key weapon against malaria. If children could be fed a more nutritious diet (less reliance on nshima), then the ability to survive malaria is greatly increased.
Sanitation.
A great number of disease are the result of poor sanitation and unclean water. There are many sanitation measures that a village can implement that will reduce the spread of disease (e.g., removing garbage that can flow into the local water supply, encouraging the use of proper latrines, controlling animal waste that flows into the local water supply, drilling bore holes for clean water, and many other such measures). This training is included in the DBC curriculum.
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