By PASSY HAACHIZO –

ZAMBIA still faces challenges in the enjoyment of sexual reproductive health because of policy and legal
limitations, First Lady Edgar Lungu has said.
Ms Lungu said there is need for more efforts to remove barriers that hinder the enjoyment of rights to sexual reproductive health.
She said this when she officiated at the Organisation of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA) cocktail in Lusaka on Wednesday evening.
She said reproductive health faced various challenges not only in Zambia but in Africa as a whole.
She said the challenges were as a result of a lack of rights and scarcity of resources the continent was facing.
“Many of our people cannot achieve these rights due to challenges in legal rights, scarcity of resources and lack of ways of addressing the challenges at hand,” she said.
Ms Lungu said the challenges of sexual reproductive health and early marriages should be addressed as they were a hindrance to development.
“A meeting like this is very important to our country as it reminds us on how we can fight the problem of sexual reproduction,” she said.
She said there was need for the countries on the continent to embrace each other and use one voice to combat some of the challenges.
“I am personally involved in giving encouragement towards the fight and let us as one create an enabling environment for our people to access sexual reproductive health and rights,” she said.
OAFLA executive secretary, Sonia Ndimbir said the office of the First Ladies contributed towards the fight against HIV/AIDS, maternal health, cervical cancer among others.
The organisation started in 2002 in Geneva and has 42 members which have a unique way of ensuring that the challenges of sexual reproduction are fought.