Sunkho (snuff) is a fine ground tobacco inhaled as dry powder or dipped in the lip/gum groove or cheek/gum vestibule for sucking as moist tobacco-mixture. In Zambia, culturally, sunkho was purely consumed by the elderly. In recent years however, sunkho has become very popular among younger women and girls. This study explored where users sourced sunkho, how they consumed sunkho and whether users were aware about health-related effects of sunkho. The study was conducted in Chipata and Petauke Districts of Zambia between March and June, 2021.A total of 25 user and non-user participants, broken down as 6 males and 19 females participated in the study. User participants were sampled through snowball sampling method. The study used an explorative research design with a qualitative approach. A single interview-per participant method was used for data collection. This study found that younger women dashed for sunkho to elevate their body temperature from ordinary-warm to unusualwarmer and for vaginal tightening so that a man enjoys memorable and satisfactory sexual pleasure. Some users consumed sunkho based on the underlying belief that sunkho helps to boost CD4 Count in HIV positive patients. This study also found that other younger female users consumed sunkho under the belief that it prevented them from acquiring COVID-19 while others did so out of need for social conformity with the prevailing fashion. The study found low levels of awareness among participants on health-associated risks of sunkho. Since users are continuously inventing methods of consuming sunkho, exposing themselves further to tobacco-associated cancers, this study recommends that health workers conduct aggressive community sensitization campaigns on sunkho and other smokeless tobacco products on health. Institutions offering health-related training programmes to include the use of Smokeless tobacco in their curriculum as a new threat to the emergence of malignancies of unknown origin among users. Ministry of Education to take a critical step in creating awareness to all pupils and students on the dangers of using sunkho and other smokeless tobacco products.

The internet and other digital communication platforms have almost entirely erased affinity and use of the snail mail. As societies get immersed in the use of these technologies, reality sink in that the internet and other online programmes are in fact a cradle of jaw-dropping non-consensual posting of nude photos and videos calculated to damage victims' reputation before the wider society so that they are eternally killed socially. This negative social behaviour is rapidly gaining ground in Zambia. The problem is even of an emergency in nature. It demands extensive academic inquiry and cure because adult males who in the traditional Zambian culture are regarded as custodians and mentors of social norms and cultural values of the young generation are being exposed through non-consensual dissemination of their nude photos and videos online. Between July, 2020 and February 2021 a series of postings online of private photos and videos of adult males filled the social landscape. The objective of this study was to explore views from 30 rural and urban dwellers on this strange social behaviour.The study used a cross-sectional design with a qualitative approach. It was conducted between January and February, 2021. Using a single-interview-per participant, the study found that urbanites in Zambia were aware of what online intimacy was. The study found that adult males engaged in online intimacy for play and pleasure, or because they were caught up in an unsatisfying, boring and unhappy marriage relationships. The study also found that extortion, black mail, and revenge were the reasons for the dissemination of intimate explicit material of others without their consent.

Older woman/ younger man romantic relationships are also referred to as 'May-December' relationships because one partner is younger/ the younger man while the other partner is older/the older woman. These relationships are now a social reality in both rural and urban societies. No wonder, scholarly interest has been increasingly gaining ground around the subject for the purpose of understanding this social phenomenon. However, evolution and survival of these relationships remain unclear in academic circles. The objective of this study was to find out how large age gap romantic heterosexual relationships involving an older woman and a younger man develop and survive under harsh societal opposition. Using a cross-sectional design with a qualitative approach, the study was conducted in Chipata-Zambia between December 2020 and March, 2021. A total of 10 participants stratified as: 2 younger men married to older women, 4 younger men with a history of intimate relationship with older women, 2 females with relatives/neighbour who were hooked up with older women and 2 males whose younger male friends were cohabiting with aged women. The study used in-depth interview to collect data from participants. This study found that majority of these relationships developed coincidentally. Except in one case, the study found that older women did not pose as 'assertive seductresses' ready to defy social norms in order to date younger men. The study however, found that older women's invitational or male-ego-challenging words, actions and non verbal language influenced the course leading to the formation of romantic relationships with son-like figures. The study also found that agedescripant couples stuck together despite harsh stereotypes when their relationship was characterized by respect, love and appreciation for each other.

Student Alcohol and other Drug Abuse is common place in colleges and universities. Without a greater level of understanding of the problem from every standpoint, nations risky losing brilliant young people to physical and mental health challenges. The objective of this study was to examine the reasons and the consequences of alcohol and other drugs abuse among students in Zambia taking one private university as a case study. A total of 30 participants whose age ranged between 21 and 27years were sampled through snowball sampling. Qualitative data was collected between March and June, 2022. The study found that some students entered the university already hooked on drugs and alcohol while others got influenced while on campus. Trigger factors for substance abuse on campus included satisfying cravings arising from addiction; desire to integrate with a social group, to read intensively for higher grades, to navigate stress and problems and for fun. Despite the ecstasy derived from the abuse of alcohol and drugs, the study found that the ultimate agony was a catalogue of behavioural and medical related problems-poor grades due to casual attitude characterized by missing classes which ultimately increased their chances to dropout or stay longer in school, risk of being bashed by cars on the road due to poor judgement when intoxicated including being a social nuisance to other students. Medical effects included mental health problems, malnutrition, stomach ulcers and liver problems. Preventive Health Education, counseling, treatment and intensified rehabilitation are critical to combating the problem of substance abuse among young people.

The problem of maternal deaths affects all nations. This study explored postpartum cultural practices surrounding deaths associated with post childbirth in Lundazi district -Zambia. The study used a cross-sectional study design with a qualitative approach. The study used 30 Small Motherhood Action Group members (SMAGs) as study units. Three Focus Group Discussions were conducted during the month of May 2018. This study found that some postpartum women in Lundazi district-Zambia used dirty, contaminated cloths as sanitary pads. The study also found that women who sustained tears, bruises or lacerations during childbirth treated their childbirth wounds by padding or inserting into their birth canals, herbal medicines prepared under unhygienic conditions. The reality of the existence of unsafe postpartum cultural practices should never be ignored or minimized as this borders on complications and death of women after childbirth. Despite the existence of a vibrant modern health care system, women slide into harmful cultural practices post childbirth which endanger their health and their lives. The cultural practice of inserting traditional herbal medicines prepared under unhygienic conditions into the vagina for treatment of bruises, cuts and lacerations exposes women to large concentrations of harmful micro-organisms placing them in the red zone of developing complicated ascending infection with consequent death in case of delay to access health care services.