Top news items in major Zambian media outlets

The following are news highlights in Zambia's major media outlets on Monday.

-- Saudi Arabia has donated 26,000 food baskets worth 2 million U.S. dollar to 30, 000 families in Zambia from 27 districts affected by droughts.

Vice-President Inonge Wina said the gesture will go a long way in alleviating poverty and the impact of dry spells in affected communities. (Zambia Daily Mail)

-- Millers have welcomed the Zambian government's decision to liberalize the floor price of maize for the 2017/2018 farming season.

Last week, President Edgar Lungu said the government will now not dictate the maize floor price but will leave it open for farmers to decide the best price at which to sell their crop.

Millers Association of Zambia president Andrew Chintala said the liberalization of the maize price floor was long overdue, adding that the determination of the floor price by farmers themselves would promote stability in the pricing of maize products. (Times of Zambia)

-- The Zambian government has commended doctors in the country for not resorting to a strike action but choosing dialogue to address their grievances over the conditions of service.

Last week, doctors at two of the country's biggest public hospitals, the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka and Ndola General Hospital in Ndola city, resolved to go on sit-in protests to demand for improved conditions of service.

Minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya said the government was delighted over the doctor's decision to dialogue as opposed to work stoppage which would be detrimental to the health sector. (Daily Nation)

-- Only 43 percent of Zambians have access to improved sanitation, a senior Zambian government official has said.

Eastern Province Minister Makebi Zulu said about 2.3 million people of the country's population mainly in rural areas still practice open defecation as they have no access to a toilet. (The Mast) Endit