Dear Eswatini,

You have done something few nations have done: you turned back an epidemic. The World Health Organization reports that 94 percent of adults living with HIV in Eswatini know their status, 97 percent of them are on treatment, and 96 percent of those on treatment have suppressed the virus, meeting the 95-95-95 targets a decade ahead of 2030. Health service coverage now stands at 72 on the World Health Organization index, among the highest in Africa.

Care reached almost everyone. Income has not. In 2023, 53.5 percent of you lived below the national poverty line, the standard furthest below the Living Line. Nine in ten of you have electricity and four in five have basic drinking water, and 83 percent of the electricity you generate comes from renewable sources. The gap is not in the services. It is in the wage.

“You proved that a small nation can reach everyone with care. Now reach everyone with a livelihood.”

Seven in ten hectares of your land are farmed, and three in four of you live in the countryside. The World Bank is financing water and sanitation, grid reinforcement and access, early childhood and basic education, and a stronger health system. None of those operations is aimed directly at the livelihoods of rural households, which is where the Living Line is missed.

The method that worked for HIV can work for income: a clear target, a count of every person, and finance tied to reaching them. Land, water and power are already in place. You proved that a small nation can reach everyone with care. Now reach everyone with a livelihood.