The Churches Health Association of Zambia is a long standing, faith based, Zambian non-government organisation (NGO) providing support and technical assistance to 125 health institutions across Zambia. CHAZ provides thirty percent of the health care available nationally, including fifty percent of rural health care, and works in partnership with the Zambian Ministry of Health.
As procurement agent for CHAZ, Crown Agents has sourced and delivered antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), laboratory equipment and mosquito bednets. CHAZ is a Principal Recipient for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria in Zambia and was awarded almost $21 million in Round 4 HIV/AIDS and malaria grants.
We have utilised our Zambian, Kenyan and British offices for developing specifications, sourcing, procurement, inspection and delivery. In addition, Crown Agents is helping to develop CHAZ warehousing facilities and is providing capacity building in the form of a procurement training workshop for CHAZ staff. Crown Agents Bank manages all of the project's funds.
As a result of the first phases of the project:
- USD 5 million worth of ARVs are supporting over 15,000 patients on antiretroviral therapy
- New malaria and TB laboratory equipment, as well as HIV/AIDS medical equipment worth USD 1.1 million has benefited 14 Church Health Institutions
- 11 faith based hospitals, many of which are located in rural parts of Zambia, are now making use of USD 408,000 worth of CD4 count machines and reagents to analyse patients' blood samples
- Almost 1.5 million mosquito bednets worth USD 8.75 million were used to target households in rural districts of Zambia