Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
A report by Human Rights Watch has revealed that Lead exposure around the former lead and zinc mine in Kabwe is having disastrous effects on children’s health.
Government has since been urged to promptly clean up the contamination and ensure proper treatment for all who need it.
The 88-page report, dubbed “We Have to Be Worried:The Impact of Lead Contamination on Children’s Rights in Kabwe, Zambia”, examines the effects of lead contamination in Kabwe on children’s rights to health, a healthy environment, education, and play.
He report says twenty-five years after the mine closed, children living in nearby townships continue to be exposed to high levels of toxic lead in soil and dust in their homes, backyards, schools, play areas, and other public spaces.
It says efforts by the government to address the environmental and health consequences of the widespread lead contamination have not thus far been sufficient, and parents struggle to protect their children.
Joanna Naples-Mitchell, children’s rights fellow at Human Rights Watch and author of the report says while the Zambian government has made several attempts to clean up the lead since the mine closed in 1994, the actual scope of the problem has yet to be addressed.
It further established that government-run health facilities in Kabwe currently have no chelation medicine for treating lead poisoning or lead test kits in stock, and no health database has been established to track cases of children who died or were hospitalized because of high lead levels.
Human Rights Watch says it engaged the Zambian government, including the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development, in dialogue throughout its investigation, and invited the government to participate in the news conference to release the report which was scheduled for August 12, 2019, but that the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Mines sent them a letter stating that the organization would not be allowed to release the report at an event in Lusaka, accusing them of attempt to discredit the government.
And Human Rights Watch Associate Director for Children’s rights Juliane Kippenberg has told Q-News from South Africa that her organisation is also shocked that many children in Kabwe town have not been tested for lead poisoning.
Ms. Kippenberg says families spoken to who previously had their children tested, have complained of their children having concentration problems at school, stomach pains and tiredness.