Public Health Act, 1930 (Chapter 295)
Zambia
Public Health Act, 1930
Chapter 295
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Commenced on 11 April 1930
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This Act may be cited as the Public Health Act. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—"adult" means a person who is over or appears to be over eighteen years of age;"approved" and "prescribed" mean respectively approved or prescribed by the Minister or the Board or by the appointed officers or by the regulations framed under this Act, as the case may be;"basement" includes any cellar, vault or underground room;"Board" means the Central Board of Health constituted under this Act;"building" includes any structure whatsoever, whether permanent or temporary;"burial" means the burial in earth, interment or any other form of sepulture or the cremation or any other mode of disposal of a dead body, and "buried" has a corresponding meaning;"child" means a person who is under or appears to be under eighteen years of age;"dairy" includes any farm-house, cow-shed, milk-stall, milk-shop or other place from which milk is supplied or in which milk is kept or used for purposes of sale or manufactured into butter, cheese, dried milk or condensed milk for sale;"dairyman" includes any cow-keeper, purveyor of milk, or occupier of a dairy, and in cases where a dairy is owned by a corporation or company the secretary or other person actually managing such dairy;"district" means, in relation to a Local Authority, the area which is under the jurisdiction of that Local Authority;"drain" means any drain used for the drainage of one building only, or of premises within the same curtilage and made merely for the purpose of communicating therefrom with a cesspool or other like receptacle for drainage, or with a sewer, into which the drainage of two or more buildings or premises occupied by different persons is conveyed;"dwelling" means any house, room, shed, hut, cave, tent, vehicle, vessel or boat or any other structure or place whatsoever, any portion whereof is used by any human being for sleeping or in which any human being dwells;"factory" means any building or part of a building in which machinery is worked by steam, water, electricity or other mechanical power, for the purposes of trade;"food" means any article used for food or drink other than drugs or water, and any article intended to enter into or be used in the preparation of such food, and flavouring matters and condiments;"guardian" means any person having, by reason of the death, illness, absence or inability of the parent or any other cause, the custody of a child;"Health Inspector" means a Health or Sanitary Inspector in the employment of the Government or of any Local Authority, and includes any person appointed by the Director of Medical Services to act as such within the district of one or more Local Authorities;"infected" means suffering from, or in the incubation stage of, or contaminated with the infection of, any infectious disease;"infectious disease" means any disease (not including any venereal disease except gonorrhoeal ophthalmia) which can be communicated directly or indirectly by any person suffering therefrom to any other person;"isolated" means the segregation and the separation and the interdiction of communication with others of persons who are or are suspected of being infected; and "isolation" has a corresponding meaning;"keeper of a lodging-house" means any person keeping an hotel or lodging-house;"land" includes any right over or in respect of land or any interest therein;"latrine" includes privy, urinal, earth closet and water closet;"Local Authority" means—(a)in the area of a city council, a municipal council, township council, such council;(b)in any other area, the District Secretary for the District in which such area is situate;"lodging-house" includes an hotel and any building or part of a house including the verandah thereof, if any, which is let or sublet in lodgings or otherwise, either by storeys, by flats, by rooms, or by portions of a room;"medical observation" means the segregation and detention of persons under medical supervision;"Medical Officer of Health" means the Director of Medical Services, any Government Medical Officer, any medical practitioner appointed by the Director of Medical Services to act as Medical Officer of Health in any area specified in such appointment, and the Medical Officer of Health of a city council, municipal council or township council;"medical practitioner" means a person registered under the Medical and Allied Cap. 296 Professions Act;"medical surveillance" means the keeping of a person under medical supervision. Persons under such surveillance may be required by the Medical Officer of Health or any duly authorised officer to remain within a specified area or to attend for medical examination at specified places and times;"occupier" includes any person in actual occupation of land or premises without regard to the title under which he occupies and, in case of premises subdivided and let to lodgers or various tenants, the person receiving the rent payable by the lodgers or tenants whether on his own account or as an agent for any person entitled thereto or interested therein;"offensive trade" includes the trade of blood-boiler, bone-boiler, fellmonger, soap-boiler, tallow-melter, tripe-boiler and any other noxious or offensive trade, business or manufacture declared by the Minister, by statutory notice, to be a noxious or offensive trade;"owner", as regards land or any interest therein, includes any person, other than the President, receiving the rent or profits of any lands or premises from any tenant or occupier thereof or who would receive such rent or profits if such land or premises were let whether on his own account or as agent for any person, other than the President, entitled thereto or interested therein. The term includes any lessee or licensee from the State and any superintendent, overseer or manager of such lessee or licensee residing on the holding;"parent" includes the father and mother of a child, whether legitimate or not;"premises" includes any building or tent together with the land on which the same is situated and the adjoining land used in connection therewith, and includes any vehicle, conveyance or vessel;"public building" means a building used or constructed or adapted to be used either ordinarily or occasionally as a place of public worship or as a hospital, college, school, theatre, public hall or as a place of assembly for persons admitted by ticket or otherwise, or used or adapted to be used for any other public purpose;"public latrine" means any latrine to which the public are admitted on payment or otherwise;"Sanitary Inspector" means a Health or Sanitary Inspector in the employment of the Government or of any Local Authority, and includes any person appointed by the Director of Medical Services to act as such within the district of one or more Local Authorities;"slaughter-house" means the premises set apart for the purpose of a slaughter-house by a Local Authority; "pig slaughter-house" means the premises set apart by a Local Authority for the slaughtering of pigs; and "meat inspector" means the person employed by any Local Authority to act as meat inspector or other qualified person authorised by it to act in that behalf;"stock" means and includes all domesticated animals of which the flesh or milk is used for human consumption;"street" means any highway, road or sanitary lane, or strip of land reserved for a highway, road or sanitary lane, and includes any bridge, footway, square, court, alley or passage whether a thoroughfare or not or a part of one;"trade premises" means any premises (other than a factory) used or intended to be used for carrying on any trade or business;"verandah" includes any stage, platform or portico projecting from the main wall of any building;"Veterinary Officer" means a veterinary surgeon in the employment of the Government;"workshop" means any building or part of a building in which manual labour is exercised for purposes of trade.[As amended by Acts No. 34 of 1930, No. 9 of 1939, No. 27 of 941, No. 64 of 1953, No. 51 of 1963, G.N. No. 291 of 1964, No. 69 of 1965, S.I. No. 163 of 1965 and No. 14 of 1966] [Repealed by Act No. 22 of 1995] [Repealed by Act No. 22 of 1995] [Repealed by Act No. 22 of 1995] [Repealed by Act No. 22 of 1995] [Repealed by Act No. 22 of 1995] [Repealed by Act No. 22 of 1995] Every Medical Officer of Health shall at the end of each month and on a form to be prescribed, transmit to the Director of Medical Services particulars of all cases of infectious diseases notified to him during the month, and all information which he may possess as to the outbreak or prevalence of any infectious communicable or preventable disease in his district.[As amended by No. 9 of 1937] The Minister may, in respect of the notification of infectious disease, by statutory instrument, make regulations as to—(a)the duties of owners or occupiers of land, the owners or managers of mines, employers of labour and all chiefs or headmen or others in regard to reporting the occurrence of any infectious disease;(b)the duties of the person in charge of any school, orphanage or similar institution in regard to the reporting of such diseases or any other communicable disease specified in the regulations to the Local Authority;(c)the circumstances in which notification of particular infectious diseases shall not be required;(d)the duties of the Local Authority in respect of the keeping of registers and records of such notifications;(e)the duties of Registrars of Deaths in respect of furnishing the Local Authority with notification of return of deaths notified with such Registrars;(f)the forms to be used and the particulars to be furnished by medical practitioners when making such notifications to the Medical Officer of Health;(g)the forms to be used and the particulars to be furnished by the Medical Officer of Health when transmitting returns and reports to the Director of Medical Services;and generally for better carrying out the provisions and attaining the objects and purposes of this Part. Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with any such regulation shall be guilty of an offence.[As amended by No. 9 of 1937] The Local Authority where such is a city council, a municipal council, or a township council and in all other cases the Government shall pay to every medical practitioner, other than a Government Medical Officer, for each certificate duly sent in by him in accordance with this Act a fee of twenty-five ngwee if the case occurs in his private practice. For the purposes of this section, private practice does not include practice among agricultural or industrial employees or their dependants in cases where the employer pays to the medical practitioner a whole or part-time salary or retaining fee for his services to such employees or their dependants.[No. 9 of 1937 as amended by No. 51 of 1963 and No. 69 of 1965] A notice or certificate to be sent to a Medical Officer of Health in pursuance of this Act, may be sent by being delivered to the officer or being left at his office or residence, or may be sent by post addressed to him at his office or his residence. A Medical Officer of Health may at any time enter and inspect any premises in which he has reason to believe that any person suffering or who has recently suffered from any infectious disease is or has recently been present, or any inmate of which has recently been exposed to the infection of any infectious disease, and may medically examine any person in such premises for the purpose of ascertaining whether such person is suffering or has recently suffered from any such disease. Any Local Authority may direct the destruction of any building, bedding, clothing or other articles which have been exposed to infection from any infectious disease, or which in the opinion of the Medical Officer of Health are infected, and any such direction shall be sufficient authority for a Medical Officer of Health or Sanitary Inspector or person authorised thereto to destroy the same, and a Local Authority may with the approval of the Minister give compensation for any building, bedding, clothing or other articles destroyed in pursuance of any direction under this section. Any Local Authority may provide a proper place, with all necessary apparatus and attendance, for the disinfection of bedding, clothing or other articles which have become infected, and may cause any articles brought for disinfection to be disinfected free of charge. Any Local Authority may provide and maintain a carriage or carriages for the conveyance of persons suffering from any infectious disease, and may pay the expenses of conveying therein any person so suffering to a hospital or other place of destination. Where in the opinion of the Medical Officer of Health any person certified by a medical practitioner to be suffering from an infectious disease, or any person suffering from venereal disease in a communicable form, is not accommodated or is not being treated or nursed in such manner as adequately to guard against the spread of the disease, such person may, on the order of the Medical Officer of Health, be detained in or removed to hospital or any temporary place which in the opinion of the Medical Officer of Health is suitable for the reception of the infectious sick and there detained until such Medical Officer of Health or any medical practitioner duly authorised thereto by the Minister is satisfied that he is free from infection or can be discharged without danger to the public health.[As amended by Act No. 38 of 1938] Any person detained in accordance with an order of the Medical Officer of Health made under the provisions of the preceding section who escapes or attempts to escape shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to a fine not exceeding seven hundred and fifty penalty units or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months, or to both.[No. 14 of 1941 as amended by Act No. 13 of 1994] Every owner or driver of a conveyance shall immediately provide for the disinfection of such conveyance after it has to his knowledge conveyed any person suffering from an infectious disease, and if he fails to do so he shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding six hundred penalty units; but no such owner or driver shall be required to convey any persons so suffering until he has been paid a sum sufficient to cover any loss or expenses incurred by him in carrying into effect the provisions of this section.[As amended by Act No. 13 of 1994] Any person who knowingly lets for hire any dwelling or premises or part thereof in which any person has been suffering from an infectious disease, without having the same and all articles therein liable to retain infection efficiently disinfected to the satisfaction of a Medical Officer of Health as testified by a certificate signed by him, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding one thousand five hundred penalty units. The provisions of this section shall apply to any owner or keeper of an hotel or boarding-house who lets any room or part thereof to any person.[As amended by Act No. 13 of 1994] Any person letting for hire or showing for the purposes of letting for hire any dwelling or premises or part thereof who, on being questioned by any person negotiating for the hire of such house as to the fact of there being or within six weeks previously having been therein any person suffering from any infectious disease, knowingly makes a false answer to such question shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one thousand five hundred penalty units.[As amended by Act No. 13 of 1994] The Minister may, by statutory instrument, make regulations applicable to all infectious diseases or only to such infectious diseases as may be specified therein regarding the following matters:(a)the imposition and enforcement of quarantine or of medical observation and surveillance in respect of persons suffering or suspected to be suffering from infectious disease who are not removed to a hospital or place of isolation, the premises in which such persons are accommodated, those in charge of or in attendance on such persons, and other persons living in or visiting such premises or who otherwise may have been exposed to the infection of any such disease;(b)the duties, in respect of the prevention of infectious disease and in respect of persons suffering or suspected to be suffering therefrom, of owners of land on which persons reside, and of employers of labour, and of chiefs or headmen and others;(c)the measures to be taken for preventing the spread of or eradicating cholera, smallpox, yellow fever, typhus fever, typhoid fever, plague, acute anterior poliomyelitis, tuberculosis or any other infectious disease requiring to be dealt with in a special manner;(d)the conveyance by rail or otherwise of persons suffering from, or the bodies of persons who have died of, an infectious disease;(e)the prevention of the spread from any animal or the carcass or product of any animal to man, of rabies, glanders, anthrax, plague, tuberculosis, trichinosis or any other disease communicable by any animal or the carcass or product of any animal to man;(f)the prevention of the spread and the eradication of malaria, the destruction of mosquitoes, and the removal or improvement of conditions permitting or favouring the multiplication or prevalence of mosquitoes, and the provision and proper upkeep of mosquito nets in the sleeping apartments of hotels, boarding-houses, lodging houses and all public buildings where persons are accommodated for payment;(g)the prevention of the spread of disease by flies and other insects, and the destruction of and the removal or improvement of conditions permitting or favouring the prevalence or multiplication of such flies or insects;(h)the destruction of rodents and other vermin, the removal or improvement of conditions permitting or favouring the harbourage or multiplication thereof;(i)the prevention of the spread of ankylostomiasis, bilharziasis or other disease in man caused by any animal or vegetable parasite;(j)the prevention of the spread of any infectious, contagious or loathsome disease by the carrying on of any business, trade or occupation;(k)the prevention of the spread of any infectious disease by persons who, though not at the time suffering from such disease, are "carriers" of and liable to disseminate the infection thereof, and the keeping under medical surveillance and the restriction of the movements of such persons;(l)the prohibition of spitting in public places or in public conveyances, except into receptacles provided for the purpose;(m)the regulation and restriction of any trade or occupation entailing special danger to the health of those engaged therein, whether from infectious disease or otherwise, and the institution of measures for preventing or limiting such danger;(n)cleansing stations and the cleansing of dirty or verminous persons, the disinfection or fumigation of premises, clothing or other articles which have been exposed to or are believed to be contaminated with the infection of any infectious disease, or which are dirty or verminous, and prohibiting the carrying out of any fumigation which involves the use of poisonous gas The provisions of this Act, unless otherwise expressed, in so far as they concern formidable epidemic, endemic or infectious diseases, shall be deemed to apply to smallpox, plague, asiatic cholera, yellow fever, typhus, sleeping sickness or human trypanosomiasis and any other disease which the Minister may declare, by statutory notice, to be a formidable epidemic disease for the purposes of this Act.[As amended by No. 51 of 1963] Whenever any part of Zambia appears to be threatened by any formidable epidemic, endemic or infectious disease, the Minister may declare it an "infected area" and may, by statutory instrument, make regulations for all or any of the following purposes, namely:(a)for the speedy interment of the dead;(b)for house to house visitation(c)for the provision of medical aid and accommodation, for the promotion of cleansing, ventilation and disinfection and for guarding against the spread of disease;(d)for preventing any person from leaving any infected area without undergoing all or any of the following: medical examination, disinfection, inoculation, vaccination or revaccination or passing a specified period in an observation camp or station;(e)for the formation of hospitals and observation camps or stations, and for placing therein persons who are suffering from or have been in contact with persons suffering from infectious disease;(f)for the destruction or disinfection of buildings, furniture, goods or other articles, which have been used by persons suffering from infectious disease, or which are likely to spread the infection;(g)for the removal of persons who are suffering from an infectious disease and persons who have been in contact with such persons;(h)for the removal of corpses;(i)for the destruction of rats, the means and precautions to be taken on shore or on board vessels for preventing them passing from vessels to the shore or from the shore to vessels, and the better prevention of the danger of spreading infection by rats;(j)for the regulation of hospitals used for the reception of persons suffering from an infectious disease and of observation camps and stations;(k)for the removal and disinfection of articles which have been exposed to infection;(l)for prohibiting any person living in any building or using any building for any other purpose whatsoever if in the opinion of the Medical Officer of Health any such use is liable to cause the spread of any infectious disease: any regulation made under this paragraph may give a Medical Officer of Health power to prescribe the conditions on which such a building may be used;(m)for any other purpose, whether of the same kind or nature as the foregoing or not, having for its object the prevention, control or suppression of infectious diseases;and may by order declare all or any of the regulations so made to be in force within the whole or any part or parts of the district of any Local Authority and such district or part or parts thereof shall be deemed an infected area and to apply to any vessels on inland waters within the territorial jurisdiction of Zambia. The Local Authority of any area within which or part of which regulations so issued by the Minister are declared to be in force, shall do and provide all such acts, matters and things as may be necessary for mitigating any such disease, or aiding in the execution of such regulations, or for executing the same, as the case may require. Moreover, the Local Authority may from time to time direct any prosecution or legal proceedings for or in respect of the wilful violation or neglect of any such regulations.[As amended by No. 9 of 1937] The Director of Medical Services and his officers shall have power of entry on any premises or vessels for the purpose of executing or superintending the execution of any regulations so issued by the Minister as aforesaid. The Minister may, if he thinks fit, by order authorise or require any two or more Local Authorities to act together for the purposes of the provisions of this Act relating to preventions of epidemic, endemic or infectious diseases, and may prescribe the mode of such joint action and of defraying the costs thereof. Every Medical Officer of Health shall immediately report to the Director of Medical Services, by telegraph or other expeditious means, particulars of every notification received of a case or suspected case of any formidable epidemic disease, or of any unusual sickness or mortality in animals made under the last preceding section.[As amended by No. 9 of 1937] For the purposes of this Part"public vaccinator" shall include a public vaccinator appointed by the Director of Medical Services and any person appointed by the Director of Medical Services to assist or act for a public vaccinator, and includes any Government Medical Officer, or Medical Officer of Health;"unprotected person" includes a child and means a person who has not been protected from smallpox by having had the disease, either naturally or by inoculation or by having been successfully vaccinated, and who has not been certified under the provisions of this Act to be insusceptible to vaccination. No person shall be permitted to enter Zambia unless he is in possession of, and produces to an immigration officer at the port of entry, a valid international certificate of vaccination or revaccination against smallpox; and such certificate shall comply with the requirements of the Sanitary Regulations of the World Health Organisation.[No. 61 of 1967] In the event of the occurrence or threatened outbreak of smallpox in any area—(a)the Local Authority or any Government Medical Officer may require any person to be forthwith vaccinated or revaccinated who has or is suspected to have been in any way recently exposed to smallpox infection or may require the parent or guardian of any child who has or is suspected to have been so exposed to have such child vaccinated or revaccinated forthwith. Any person failing to comply with such requirement shall be guilty of an offence;(b)the Local Authority may, or when instructed by the Minister on the advice of the Board so to do shall, require all persons within an area defined to attend at centres according to instructions issued and to undergo inspection, vaccination or revaccination, as circumstances may require. Such instructions may be issued by notice in the Press, or by notices posted in public places, or otherwise as may be deemed sufficient by the Local Authority. Non-attendance shall be deemed to be an offence;(c)any Medical Officer of Health, public vaccinator or medical practitioner duly authorised by the Director of Medical Services may require any person in such area to furnish satisfactory proof (including the exhibition of vaccination scars) that he has been successfully vaccinated within three years immediately preceding the date of such requirement. Any person who fails to furnish such proof as regards himself or as regards any child of which he is the parent or guardian, and refuses to allow himself or such child to be vaccinated, shall be guilty of an offence.[As amended by No. 9 of 1937 and No. 61 of 1967] Every public vaccinator or medical practitioner who shall have performed the operation of vaccination upon any adult or child, and shall have ascertained that the same has been successful, shall deliver to such adult or to the parent or guardian of such child a certificate in Form 3 in the Schedule, or to the like effect, certifying that the said adult or child has been successfully vaccinated. Every superintendent or person in charge of a leper asylum or mental hospital, gaol, prison, reformatory, penitentiary or other similar institution, shall cause to be vaccinated within fourteen days following his admission to such institution every inmate thereof who, being in a fit state of health to undergo vaccination, has not been successfully vaccinated within the three years immediately preceding: if such person is at the time unfit to undergo vaccination, he shall be vaccinated as soon as he is so fit.[As amended by No. 25 of 1969] Any person who inoculates himself or any other person with material taken from a person suffering from smallpox or from a vaccine vesicle on another person or by any method not prescribed in regulations shall be guilty of an offence. The Minister on the advice of the Board may, by statutory instrument, make regulations—(a)prescribing forms of certificate, notices, returns, and books of record to be used in connection with public vaccination, and defining the information to be furnished therein, and requiring the furnishing and prescribing the manner of use thereof by Registrars of Births, public vaccinators, Local Authorities, medical practitioners, parents or guardians of children, persons in charge of schools, employers of labour and others;(b)conferring powers and imposing duties, in connection with the carrying out or enforcement of vaccination, on magistrates, police officers, or other Government officers, Local Authorities, persons in charge of schools, employers of labour, chiefs, headmen, and others;(c)prescribing the conditions under which vaccine lymph may be supplied free of charge to medical practitioners, Local Authorities and others;(d)providing for the vaccination or revaccination of persons and assigning, where deemed desirable, the responsibility for the carrying out of such vaccination or revaccination to Local Authorities or employers of labour;(e)as to the application and enforcement of the provisions of this Part to persons entering Zambia and for requiring, where deemed necessary, the vaccination or revaccination of any person before so entering.[As amended by G.N. No. 500 of 1964] The Minister may, when he may consider it necessary for the prevention of the spread of any infectious disease, appoint special medical officers to inspect railway trains or other conveyances and any article or thing therein, and to examine any persons travelling by train or other conveyance, whether entering or leaving or travelling within Zambia. The President may enter into agreements with the Government of the United Kingdom, or with the Government of any British Dominion or possession or of any foreign country, providing for the reciprocal notification of outbreaks of any formidable epidemic or other disease or any other matter affecting the public health relations of Zambia with other countries.[As amended by No. 51 of 1963, G.N. No. 291 of 1964 and S.I. No. 163 of 1965] Wherever under this Part powers are exercised by the Minister or other officer in accordance therewith and with the regulations and by reason of the exercise of such powers—(a)any vessel, person, article or thing is delayed or removed or detained; or(b)any article or thing is damaged or destroyed; or(c)any person is deprived of the use of any article or thing;the Government shall not be liable to pay compensation, provided due care and reasonable precautions have been taken to avoid unnecessary delay or damage or destruction.[As amended by No. 51 of 1963] The provisions of this Act, unless otherwise expressed, in so far as they concern venereal disease and leprosy, shall be deemed to apply to syphilis, gonorrhea, gonorrhoeal ophthalmia, soft chancre, venereal warts and venereal granuloma. Every person who wilfully or by culpable negligence infects any other person with venereal disease or leprosy, or does or permits or suffers any act likely to lead to the infection of any other person with any such disease, shall be guilty of an offence, and shall be liable to a fine not exceeding six thousand penalty units or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months, or to both.[As amended by Act No. 13 of 1994] Any person detained in hospital under this Part shall be entitled to arrange, at his own expense, for his examination by any medical practitioner, and a report of such examination shall be furnished to the magistrate, who may thereupon cause to be made any further examination of such person which he may deem necessary. No person shall be detained in hospital under this Part who is not, or is no longer, suffering from a venereal disease or leprosy in a communicable form. No person shall cause a nuisance or shall suffer to exist on any land or premises owned or occupied by him or of which he is in charge any nuisance or other condition liable to be injurious or dangerous to health. It shall be the duty of every Local Authority to take all lawful, necessary and reasonably practicable measures for maintaining its district at all times in clean and sanitary condition, and for preventing the occurrence therein of, or for remedying or causing to be remedied, any nuisance or condition liable to be injurious or dangerous to health, and to take proceedings at law against any person causing or responsible for the continuance of any such nuisance or condition. It shall be the duty of every Local Authority to take all lawful, necessary and reasonably practicable measures for preventing or causing to be prevented or remedied all conditions liable to be injurious or dangerous to health arising from the erection or occupation of unhealthy dwellings or premises, or the erection of dwellings or premises on unhealthy sites or on sites of insufficient extent, or from overcrowding, or from the construction, condition or manner of use of any factory or trade premises, and to take proceedings under the law or rules in force in its district against any person causing or responsible for the continuance of any such condition. The Local Authority, if satisfied of the existence of a nuisance, shall serve a notice on the author of the nuisance or, if he cannot be found, then on the occupier or owner of the dwelling or premises on which the nuisance arises or continues, requiring him to remove it within the time specified in the notice, and to execute such work and do such things as may be necessary for that purpose and if the Local Authority think it desirable (but not otherwise) specifying any work to be executed to prevent a recurrence of the said nuisance:Provided that—(i)where the nuisance arises from any want or defect of a structure or character, or where the dwelling or premises are unoccupied, the notice shall be served on the owner;(ii)where the author of the nuisance cannot be found and it is clear that the nuisance does not arise or continue by the act or default or sufferance of the occupier or owner of the dwelling or premises, the Local Authority shall remove the same and may do what is necessary to prevent the recurrence thereof.[As amended by No. 9 of 1937] Whenever it appears to the satisfaction of the court that the person by whose act or default the nuisance arises, or that the owner or occupier of the premises is not known or cannot be found, the court may at once order the Local Authority to execute the works thereby directed and the cost of executing the same shall be a charge on the property on which the said nuisance exists. The Local Authority or any of its officers or the Medical Officer of Health, or any Sanitary Inspector, or, on the order of a magistrate, any police officer of or above the rank of Assistant Inspector may enter any building or premises for the purpose of examining as to the existence of any nuisance therein at all reasonable times; and the Local Authority or any of its officers may if necessary open up the ground of such premises and cause the drains to be tested, or such other work to be done as may be necessary for the effectual examination of the said premises:Provided that, if no nuisance is found to exist, the Local Authority shall restore the premises at its own expense.[As amended by No. 47 of 1963] The Minister may, by statutory instrument, make regulations and may confer powers and impose duties in connection with the carrying out and enforcement thereof on Local Authorities, owners and others as to—(a)the inspection of land, dwellings, buildings, factories and trade premises, and for securing the keeping of the same clean and free from nuisance and so as not to endanger the health of the inmates or the public health;(b)the construction of buildings, the provision of proper lighting and ventilation, and the prevention of overcrowding;(c)the periodical cleansing and whitewashing or other treatment of dwellings and the cleansing of land attached thereto and the removal of rubbish or refuse therefrom;(d)the drainage of land, streets or premises, the disposal of offensive liquids and the removal and disposal of rubbish, refuse, manure and waste matters;(e)the standard or standards of purity of any liquid which, after treatment in any purification works, may be discharged therefrom as effluent;(f)the keeping of animals or birds and the construction, cleanliness and drainage of places where animals or birds are kept;(g)the establishment and carrying on of factories or trade premises which are liable to cause offensive smells or effluvia, or to discharge liquid or other material liable to cause such smells or effluvia, or to pollute streams, or are otherwise liable to be a nuisance or injurious or dangerous to health, and for prohibiting the establishment or carrying on of such factories or trade premises in unsuitable localities or so as to be a nuisance or injurious or dangerous to health;(h)the subdivision and general layout of land intended to be used as building sites, the level construction, number, direction and the width of streets and thoroughfares, the limitation of the number of dwellings or other buildings to be erected on such land, the proportion of any building site which may be built upon and the establishment of zones within which different limitations shall apply and zones within which may be prohibited the establishment or conduct of occupations or trades likely to cause nuisance or annoyance to persons residing in the neighborhood;(i)the inspection of the district of any Local Authority by that Local Authority with a view to ascertaining whether the lands and buildings thereon are in a state to be injurious or dangerous to health and the preparation, keeping, and publication of such records as may be required.[As amended by Act No. 17 of 1957 and G.N. Nos. 291 and 500 of 1964] It shall be the duty of every Local Authority to take all lawful, necessary and reasonably practicable measures—(a)for preventing any pollution dangerous to health of any supply of water which the public within its district has a right to use and does use for drinking or domestic purposes (whether such supply is derived from sources within or beyond its district); and(b)for purifying any such supply which has become so polluted;and to take measures (including, if necessary, proceedings at law) against any person so polluting any such supply or polluting any stream so as to be a nuisance or danger to health. No person shall sell or expose for sale or bring into Zambia or into any market or have in his possession without reasonable excuse any food for any animal in an unwholesome state or unfit for its use, and any Medical Officer of Health, Veterinary Officer, Sanitary Inspector, Meat Inspector or police officer of or above the rank of Sub-Inspector may seize any such food, and any District Secretary on the recommendation of the Medical Officer of Health or Veterinary Officer may order it to be destroyed or to be so disposed of as to prevent it from being used as food for animals.[No. 22 of 1972] Any Medical Officer of Health, or other person duly authorised by the Local Authority in writing, may, at any time between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., enter any shop or premises used for the sale or preparation for sale, or for the storage of food, to inspect and examine any food found therein which he shall have reason to believe is intended to be used as human food, and should such food appear to such officer to be unfit for such use, he may seize the same, and any Administrative Officer may order it to be disposed of as in the foregoing section. The proof that such food was not exposed or deposited for any such purpose shall rest with the person charged.[As amended by G.N. No. 500 of 1964] Any person in whose possession there shall be found any food liable to seizure under sections seventy-nine and eighty shall further be liable to a penalty not exceeding three thousand penalty units or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months, or to both.[As amended by Act No. 13 of 1994] The Minister may, by statutory instrument, make regulations regarding all or any of the following matters:(a)the inspection of dairy stock and of animals intended for human consumption, and of dairies, stock-sheds or yards, milk-shops, milk-vessels and slaughter-houses, and of factories, stores, shops and other places where any article of food is manufactured or prepared or kept;(b)the taking and examination of samples of milk, dairy produce, meat or other articles of food and the removal or detention, pending examination or inquiry, of animals or articles which are suspected of being diseased or unsound or unwholesome or unfit for human consumption, and the seizure and destruction or treatment or disposal, so as not to endanger health, of any such article which is found to be unwholesome or unsound or diseased or infected or contaminated, and of diseased animals sold or intended or offered or exposed for sale for human consumption; such regulations may empower a Medical Officer of Health, or (in the case of meat) a Veterinary Officer, to detain, seize or destroy any diseased, unsound or unwholesome article of food, but shall not confer on any other person any power beyond that of detention of such article for the purpose of examination by a Medical Officer of Health, or (in the case of meat) a Veterinary Officer;(c)fixing standards of milk contents and cleanliness of milk and prescribing the warning to be given to any cow-keeper, dairyman or purveyor of milk that any milk sold or kept or transmitted or exposed for sale by him has been found to be below any such standard, and the issue of orders prohibiting the sale or keeping or exposure for sale of milk from any particular animal or animals, or requiring the closing of any dairy, stock-shed or yard or milk-shop, the milk from which is found after analysis and official warning to be below any such standard;(d)the conveyance and distribution of milk and the labelling or marking of receptacles used for the conveyance of milk;(e)the veterinary inspection of dairy stock;(f)the duties of cow-keepers, dairymen and purveyors of milk in connection with the occurrence of infectious disease amongst persons residing or employed in or about their premises and the furnishing by them of the names and addresses of their customers, and of cow-keepers in connection with reporting the occurrence, in animals on the premises or any dairy cattle, of diseases which are communicable to man and of any disease of the udder;(g)the inspection and examination of, and the regulation, inspection and supervision of the manufacture, preparation, storage, keeping and transmission of any article of food intended for sale or for export from Zambia and the prohibition of the manufacture, preparation, storage, keeping, transmission, sale or export from Zambia of any such article which is, or contains an ingredient which is diseased or unsound or unfit for human consumption, or which has been exposed to any infection or contamination;(h)the establishment, locality, supervision, equipment, maintenance and management of slaughter-houses and places in which animals awaiting slaughter are kept and the disposal of the waste products of slaughtering and the inspection of slaughter-houses and the animals therein, and prohibiting, restricting or regulating the slaughtering of animals.[As amended by No. 1 of 1931, No. 17 of 1957 and No. 22 of 1972] The Minister, on the advice of the Board, may make orders—(a)requiring the medical examination of any person in any premises in which any milk or dairy produce or other article of food intended for sale is collected, kept, sold, or exposed for sale, or of any person who has been engaged in the collection, preparation, keeping, conveyance or distribution of any such milk or produce or article;(b)prohibiting the employment by any cow-keeper, dairyman or purveyor of milk or other person in connection with the collection, preparation, storage, distribution or sale of milk, or dairy produce or any article of food, of any person who has been proved to be a carrier of the infection of typhoid or enteric fever or other infectious disease, while so infected;(c)requiring the closing of any stock-shed or yard, dairy or milk-shop, or the exclusion from any stock-shed or dairy premises of any animal the milk from which is believed to have conveyed or to be liable to convey any infectious disease;(d)prohibiting the sale or exposure for sale of milk by any cow-keeper, dairyman or purveyor of milk who has been three times convicted of offences under any laws or rules regarding the milk trade. For the purposes of this Act—(a)any collection of water, sewerage, rubbish, refuse, ordure, or other fluid or solid substance, which permits or facilitates the breeding or multiplication of animal or vegetable parasites of men or domestic animals, or of insects or of other agents, which are known to carry such parasites or which may otherwise cause or facilitate the infection of men or domestic animals by such parasites;(b)any collection of water in any well, pool, gutter, channel, depression, excavation, barrel, tub, bucket, or any other article, and found to contain any of the immature stages of the mosquito;(c)any cesspit, latrine, urinal, dung-pit or ash pit found to contain any of the immature stages of the mosquito;shall be nuisances liable to be dealt with in the manner hereinbefore provided for the treatment of nuisances. The occupier or owner of any premises shall keep such premises free from all bottles, whole or broken, whether fixed on wall or not, tins, boxes, calabashes, earthenware vessels, shells, or any other articles which are kept so that they are likely to retain water. Any occupier or owner of any premises failing to comply with the provisions of this section shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred and fifty penalty units.[As amended by Act No. 13 of 1994] A person shall not within a township permit any premises or lands owned or occupied by him or over which he has control to become overgrown with bush or long grass of such nature as, in the opinion of the Medical Officer of Health, to be likely to harbour mosquitoes. It shall not be lawful for any person to keep, or for the occupier or owner of any premises to allow to be kept thereon, any collection of water in any well, barrel, tub, bucket, tank or other vessel intended for the storage of water, unless such well, barrel, tub, bucket, tank or other vessel is fitted with a sufficient cover, the said cover to be kept in good repair and properly protected or screened to the satisfaction of the Medical Officer of Health so as to prevent the ingress of mosquitoes into the same. Any person offending against the provisions of this section shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred and fifty penalty units, and after notice received from a local authority to a further fine not exceeding thirty penalty units for each day during which he shall make default.[As amended by No. 9 of 1937 and Act No. 13 of 1994] The occupier or owner of any premises upon or attached to which is any cesspit shall cause such cesspit to be properly protected or screened to the satisfaction of the Medical Officer of Health so as to prevent the ingress of mosquitoes into the same, and in default he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred and fifty penalty units and to a further fine not exceeding thirty penalty units for each day during which he shall continue to make such default after notice received from that local authority to comply with the provisions of this section.[As amended by Act No. 13 of 1994] Where any of the immature stages of the mosquito are found on any premises in any collection of water in any cesspit, well, pool, channel, barrel, tap, bucket, tank or any other vessel or any bottle, whole or broken, whether fixed on the wall or not, tin, box, calabash, shell, or any other article, it shall be lawful for the Medical Officer of Health, to take immediate steps to destroy any such immature stages of the mosquito by the application of oil or larvicide or otherwise, and to take such action as is necessary to prevent the recurrence of the nuisance and to render any pools or collecitons of water unfit to become breeding places for mosquitoes. Notwithstanding any provisions of this Act, the occupier or owner of any house or premises, or the owner or person having the charge of any vessel, timber, cask, or other article in all about which there is any collection of water, found by the Medical Officer of Health or a health inspector to contain any of the immature stages of the mosquito, shall be liable in respect of each and every such collection of water to a fine not exceeding one hundred and fifty penalty units or in default to be imprisoned with or without hard labour for seven days.[As amended by No. 14 of 1966 and Act No. 13 of 1994] All cemeteries now being used as such and such other cemeteries as may be authorised by the Minister, notice whereof shall be published in the Gazette, shall be deemed authorised cemeteries.[As amended by G.N. No. 291 of 1964] There shall be kept a record of every permit granted and of every direction made under the provisions of the last two sections. Such record shall contain particulars, so far as the same can be ascertained, of the name, sex, and age of the persons buried, date of burial and of the place of original burial and of reburial or removal. Such record shall be open during office hours to inspection by any person.[As amended by Act No. 49 of 1970] It shall be lawful for the Minister to notify in the Gazette that any cemetery or burial ground shall, from a time in such notification to be specified, be closed, and the same shall be closed accordingly, and whosoever, after the said specified time, shall bury any body or the remains of any body in th said cemetery or burial ground, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred and fifty kwacha.[As amended by No. 44 of 1957 and G.N. No. 291 of 1964] All reasonable expenses incurred by the Board in consequence of any default in complying with any order or notice issued under the provisions of this Act shall be deemed to be money paid for the use and at the request of the person on whom the said order or notice was made, and shall be recoverable from him at the suit of the Board as a civil debt recoverable summarily. The provisions of this section shall apply to any orders or notices issued under any rules by the Local Authority. It shall not be lawful to live in, occupy or use or to let or sublet, or to suffer or permit to be used any basement for habitation, nor shall it be lawful, without the written permission of the Local Authority, to use such basement as a shop, workshop, or factory, or for the preparation or storage of food, and no basement shall be used unless it is well lit and ventilated and is free from damp and is rendered rat-proof to the satisfaction of the Medical Officer of Health. The Minister may, by statutory instrument, make regulations for the conduct and inspection of lodging-houses and no person shall open or keep open a lodging-house unless the house is registered and the keeper thereof is licensed by the Local Authority.[As amended by No. 17 of 1957 and G.N. No. 291 of 1964] When in the opinion of the Local Authority additional public latrine accommodation is required in any locality upon unalienated State Land, the Local Authority shall apply in writing to the Minister, specifying the site upon which it desires the erection of a public latrine, and the accommodation to be provided by such latrine, and the Minister shall, after due inquiry, give his decision on the matter.[As amended by G.N. No. 291 of 1964] Notices, orders, and other documents under this Act, may be in writing or print, or partly in writing and partly in print, and if the same require authentication by the Board, or a Local Authority, the signature thereof respectively by the secretary, Town Clerk, Sanitary Inspector or District Secretary, as the case may be, shall be sufficient authentication.[As amended by No. 9 of 1937] Notices, orders and other documents required or authorised to be served under this Act may be served by delivering the same to or at the residence of the person to whom they are respectively addressed, or where addressed to the owner or occupier of premises by delivering the same, or a true copy thereof, to some person on the premises, or if there be no person on the premises who can be served by fixing the same on some conspicuous part of the premises; they may also be served by post by a prepaid letter, and if served by post shall prima facie be deemed to have been served at the time when the letter containing the same would be delivered in the ordinary course of post, and in proving such service it shall be sufficient to prove that the notice, order or other document was properly addressed and put in the post. The Deputy Director of Medical Services, the Chief Health Officer, any Health Officer, Medical Officer of Health, Port Health Officer or Government Medical Officer may, with the authority and on behalf of the Director of Medical Services, discharge any of the duties or functions of the Director of Medical Services, and any duties imposed or powers conferred by this Act on Medical Officers of Health, Port Health Officers, or Medical Officers may be carried out or exercised by the Director of Medical Services, Deputy Director of Medical Services, Chief Health Officer or any Government Medical Officer designated by the Director of Medical Services for that purpose. No defect in the form of any notice or order made under this Act shall invalidate or render unlawful the administrative action, or be a ground for exception to any legal proceedings which may be taken in the matter to which such notice or order relates, provided the requirements thereof are substantially and intelligibly set forth. Any person guilty of an offence against or contravention of, or default in complying with, any provision of this Act shall, if no penalty is expressly provided for such offence, contravention or default, be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding seven hundred and fifty penalty units, and if the offence, contravention, or default is of a continuing nature, to a further fine not exceeding ninety penalty units for each day during which he shall make default provided that, where the offence is in respect of any building or premises for which a licence is required under any law for the time being in force, the court before which any such conviction is obtained may in addition to or in substitution for any of the aforesaid penalties revoke or suspend such licence.[As amended by Act No. 13 of 1994] Where a contravention of any of the provisions of this Act is committed by any company or corporation, the secretary or manager thereof may be summoned and shall be held liable for such contravention and the consequences thereof. Where proceedings under this Act are competent against several persons in respect of the joint act or default of such persons, it shall be sufficient to proceed against one or more of them without proceeding against the others. A Local Authority may, by any of its officers, or by any person generally or specially authorised in writing by the Mayor or chairman thereof, prosecute for any contravention of, or offence against, or default in offence against, or default in complying with any provision of this Act or any regulation made or deemed to be made thereunder, if the contravention, offence, or default is alleged to have been committed within or to affect its district.[As amended by No. 36 of 1965] Nothing in any law specially governing any Local Authority shall be construed as preventing such Local Authority from exercising any power or performing any duty under this Act by reason only that in exercising such power or performing such duty it must do some act or thing or incur expenditure outside its district. The Minister shall have power, by statutory instrument, to make regulations generally for the carrying out of the purposes of this Act.[As amended by Act No. 51 of 1963] For the purposes of Part IX, where the nuisance within the district of a Local Authority appears to be wholly or partially caused by some act or default committed or taking place without its district, the Local Authority may take or cause to be taken against any person in respect of such act or default any proceedings in relation to nuisances and authorised by this Act, with the same incidence and consequences, as if such act or default were committed or took place wholly within its district.[No. 34 of 1930] Where in any district no Medical Officer of Health is immediately available and where the circumstances render immediate action necessary for the prevention of the spread of disease or generally for safeguarding the health and well-being of the community, the Local Authority may exercise the powers conferred and perform the duties imposed by this Act on a Medical Officer of Health.[No. 34 of 1930]Part I – Preliminary
1. Short title
2. Interpretation
Part II – Administration
3. ***
4. ***
5. ***
6. ***
7. ***
8. ***
Part III – Notification of infectious diseases
9. Notifiable infectious diseases
10. Notification of infectious diseases
11. Medical Officers of Health to transmit return of notifications
12. Regulations for the notification of infectious diseases
13. Fees for certificates
14. Notices and certificates
Part IV – Prevention and suppression of infectious diseases
15. Inspection of infected premises and examination of persons suspected to be suffering from infectious diseases
16. Duty of Local Authority to cause premises to be cleansed and disinfected
17. Destruction of infected bedding, etc.
18. Provision of means of disinfection
19. Provision of conveyance for infected person
20. Removal to hospital of infected person
21. Penalty for escaping when detained
22. Penalty on exposure of infected persons and things
23. Penalty on failing to provide for disinfection of public conveyance
24. Penalty for letting infected house
25. Duty of person letting house lately infected to give true information
26. Notification to Local Authority of persons dying of infectious disease
27. Removal and burial of bodies of persons who have died of an infectious disease
28. Regulations regarding infectious diseases
Part V – Special provisions regarding formidable epidemic disease
29. Formidable epidemic, endemic or infectious diseases
30. Regulations for prevention of disease
31. Local Authority to see to the execution of regulations
32. Power of entry
33. Minister may combine Local Authorities
34. Notification of sickness or mortality in animals suspected of plague
35. Medical Officers of Health to report notification of formidable epidemic diseases by telegraph
36. Director of Medical Services may requisition buildings, equipment, etc.
Part VI – Prevention of the spread of smallpox
37. Interpretation of terms in Part VI
38. Vaccination certificates
39. Vaccination every three years
40. Emergency vaccination of population in areas threatened with smallpox
41. If adult or child be unfit for vaccination, certificate to be given
42. Certificate of insusceptibility to be given
43. Certificate to be given for successful vaccination
44. No fee to be charged for a certificate or for vaccination by public vaccinator
45. Vaccination of inmates of institutions
46. School attendance
47. Supply of vaccine lymph and inoculation from arm to arm, etc., forbidden
48. Regulations under Part VI
Part VII – Prevention of introduction of disease
49. Introduction of infectious disease
50. Removal of infected persons from railway trains
51. Surveillance or isolation of persons exposed to infection
52. Powers of authorised medical officers to inspect railway trains and medically examine passengers
53. Special medical officers to inspect railway trains, etc.
54. Powers to enforce precautions at borders
55. Agreements with other Governments regarding reciprocal notification of outbreaks
56. Government not to be liable to pay compensation in exercise of powers of Act if reasonable precautions used
Part VIII – Veneral diseases and leprosy
57. Venereal diseases and leprosy
58. Infected employees
59. Conveyance of infection an offence
60. Detention in hospital of infected person
61. Rights of persons detained in hospital
62. Publication of advertisements of cures
63. Regulations under Part VIII
Part IX – Sanitation and housing
64. Nuisances prohibited
65. Duties of Local Authorities to maintain cleanliness and prevent nuisances
66. Duty of Local Authorities to prevent or remedy danger to health arising from unsuitable dwellings
67. What constitutes a nuisance
68. Notice to remove nuisance
69. Procedure in case owner fails to comply with notice
70. Penalties in relation to nuisances
71. Court may order Local Authority to execute works in certain cases
72. Examination of premises
73. Demolition of unfit dwellings
74. Prohibitions in respect of back-to-back dwelling, and rooms without through ventilation
75. Regulations under Part IX
Part X – Protection of foodstuffs
76. Construction and regulation of buildings used for the storage of foodstuffs
77. No person shall reside or sleep in any room in which foodstuffs are stored, etc.
Part XI – Water and food supplies
78. Duty of Local Authority as to pollution of water supplies
79. Sale of unwholesome food prohibited
80. Seizure of unwholesome food
81. Penalty
82. Regulations under Part XI
83. Minister's power to make orders on advice of Board
Part XII – Prevention and destruction of mosquitoes
84. Breeding places of mosquitoes to be nuisances
85. Yards to be kept free from bottles, whole or broken, etc.
86. Clearing of bush or long grass
87. Wells, etc., to be covered
88. Cesspits to be screened
89. Larvae, etc., may be destroyed
90. Mere presence of mosquito larvae an offence
Part XIII – Cemeteries
91. Cemeteries to be appointed
92. List of authorised cemeteries
93. Permit to exhume
94. Directions for removal or covering over of graves for public or mining purposes
95. Record of permit for exhumation
96. Closing of cemeteries by Minister
97. Reimbursement of expenses to Board
Part XIV – General
98. Basements not to be occupied without permission
99. Lodging-houses to be registered and the keeper licensed
100. Nursing homes to be licensed
101. Board may apply to Minister for land for additional public latrines
102. Control of crops and irrigation
103. Supervision of importation or manufacture of vaccines, etc.
Part XV – Miscellaneous provisions
104. Notices, etc. may be printed or written
105. Service of notices
106. Powers and duties of officers of Health Department
107. Defect in form not to invalidate notices, etc.
108. Powers of entry and inspection of premises and penalties for obstruction
109. Penalties where not expressly provided
110. Liability of secretary or manager of company
111. Proceedings against several persons
112. Prosecutions
113. Power of Local Authority outside its district
114. Regulations
115. Power to proceed where cause of nuisance arises without district
116. Emergency powers of Local Authority