Governance | Health and HIV/AIDS | Finance and trade | Humanitarian aid
With a programme managed from Pretoria in South Africa (with a field office in the Irish Embassy in Maseru), DFID is one of Lesotho's largest donors, contributing some £12 million in the three years ending in spring 2009.
To help the government of Lesotho collect all the taxes owed to it, DFID has funded the establishment and continued running of the Lesotho Revenue Authority. As a result of this, an extra 6.45% of taxes – equal to 102.2 million Maloti (£7.3M) – was remitted in 2006-2007. To put this in perspective, it was:
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), by 2007 Lesotho had risen 12 rankings in the 'ease of paying taxes' category to reach the top 25%.
Lesotho ranks third (after Swaziland and Botswana) among countries most severely affected by HIV/AIDS. The national rate of infection in adults between the ages of 15 and 49 is estimated at 23.5%, but within the 18–40 age group, prevalence is estimated at over 40%.
DFID has approved a further £2.55 million to support the ALAFA (Apparel Lesotho Alliance to Fight AIDS) workplace programme. This covers HIV/AIDS policy and prevention and gives testing, treatment and care to 47,000 factory workers, 85% of whom are women. This will reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS on workers. It will also ensure that the largest employer in Lesotho remains competitive, protecting the roughly 200,000 people dependent on the livelihoods of these workers.
By the middle of 2008, 38,000 workers (66% of the workforce) had access to ALAFA’s prevention services and 27,000 also had access to the care and treatment component of the programme. ALAFA will be extended to another 100,000 people providing much needed services in three major urban centres: Maseru, Mafeteng and Maputsoe. Female workers in the textile industry now have direct access to health clinics in the workplace that provide advice from medical practitioners, free condoms and anti-retroviral therapy. This will improve maternal health and impact directly on reducing child mortality.
The Lesotho government's abolition, in January 2008, of user fees for health centres is also showing a positive impact. There has already been a 64% increase in the use of these centres, with a substantial shift away from hospitals. In addition, substantially more people have been enrolled in anti-retroviral programmes.
DFID works closely with Irish Aid and the European Commission to assist the government of Lesotho to improve financial management and create more jobs by making Lesotho a better place to do business.
Jobs in the vital textile industry have risen from 38,000 (2005) to 47,000 (2007) as a result of the DFID-funded ComMark: Making Markets Work for the Poor programme in southern Africa.
We've also supported the setting up of the Trade Investment Facility – also known as the One Stop Shop (OSS) –launched in September 2007. This has simplified export processes to eliminate unnecessary steps and to reduce delays in processing documentation. For example:
In 2007–08, Lesotho suffered its worst drought in 30 years with up to 60% crop failure and more than 450,000 people in need of food. The Lesotho government and development partners responded well to the crisis and a humanitarian disaster was averted. DFID provided £450,000 to assist with water and sanitation needs.
Early assessments indicate that food shortages will result from the 50% increase in the price of maize since May 2007, due to poor harvests caused by hail and early frost. This, accompanied by rising prices for petrol, diesel and paraffin, means that more than 250,000 people will need food during the latter half of 2008–09.
Bookmark with:
What are Bookmarks?
More news stories
Research information from R4D
RSS feed from R4Dopens in a new window
What's RSS?