Royal Visit

King Chitimukulu Sosala Kanyanta Manga II from Zambia, King of the Bemba tribe, is visiting Albuquerque in an effort to increase access to healthcare and services for his people.

University of New Mexico Health Sciences Officials sat down with a royal visitor this morning to discuss how healthcare impacts each of us around the globe. King Chitimukulu Sosala Kanyanta Manga II from Zambia, King of the Bemba, is visiting Albuquerque in an effort to increase access to healthcare and services for his people.

According the Albuquerque Journal, there are 73 ethnic groups in Zambia, of which the Bemba ethnic group represents 21 percent of the national population. The Bemba ethnic group is the majority population in five of 10 provinces in Zambia. The Bemba kingdom is divided into 18 semiautonomous kingdoms, with Manga II being the "paramount" king.

King Manga's trip is sponsored by Women to Be, an organization who distributes sanitary feminine products to women and girls in developing countries. UNM Hospitals Board of Trustees Vice-Chair Christine Glidden founded the non-profit in 2015.

King Manga met with pueblo leaders last week according to the Journal and will wrap up his tour of HSC with a visit to the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center.