HIV is the leading cause of death in Zambia. Through the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), CDC works with Zambia to build a sustainable, high-impact national HIV response to accelerate progress toward HIV epidemic control.

As of 2026, HIV/AIDS remains the leading cause of death in Zambia, although significant progress in antiretroviral therapy (ART) has greatly increased life expectancy across the nation. While infectious diseases like malaria and tuberculosis (TB) continue to pose massive public health challenges, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like heart disease and stroke are rapidly rising as the population urbanizes. Neonatal disorders also rank high among the top causes of mortality. The Zambian government, in partnership with global health organizations, continues to prioritize "95-95-95" targets for HIV—aiming for 95% of people living with HIV to know their status, 95% of those to be on treatment, and 95% of those on treatment to be virally suppressed. Despite these efforts, complications related to the virus remain the primary driver of the national mortality rate in most demographic studies.