November 2009

Bangula

The EMAS team monitors the health of the children at the Bangula mission site of IRIS Ministries, home to 54 otherwise homeless children. They assist at local clinics and have left much appreciated supplies and equipment. At the mission’s Bible School, they also teach village pastors disease prevention so that this information will be disseminated in the villages. Funding is needed for equipment and training in local clinics and in hospitals in the Bangula health district. In 2010, EMAS hopes to work alongside doctors from Malawi CMDF in Bangula.

 

March/April 2008

IRIS Ministries Mission and Other Opportunities

The EMAS team went to visit the mission site of IRIS Ministries. The children ages 2 to 13 live here in a setting similar to a family environment. Most of the children had never seen a physician. After four days we had done a check-up on each one of them. We spent time with the house parents to answer any health questions they might have and we scheduled a day to see mission staff.

We were also able to meet with the two principal primary care professionals in the area. We were later asked to meet with the pastors attending the Bible school for a question and answer session on health related issues. It is our hope that by educating them we will observe a “ripple effect” with correct health information being disseminated in their home villages.


Future Goals

• Medical Clinic on the IRIS compound—the building and equipping of a small clinic on site.
• Staff Health Day—to be included in our schedule during our next trip.
• Health Teaching for Pastors—to provide them with correct health information to dispense in the villages.
• House Calls to the Grandmothers—visits focused on the grandmothers who are caring for their orphaned grandchildren.
• Continuing Medical Education—to support local clinical officers and increase their knowledge in areas where they may be lacking.
• Well Child Exams—examine all the children at least once a year to document their development.
• Health Booklets—supply booklets on health-related issues for both the pastors and the house parents.
• Immunizations—a problem area which needs to be addressed.

We are excited at the opportunity to serve our Lord and the people of Bangula in partnership with IRIS Ministries. We stand ready to help in any way they feel would be of greatest benefit.

Kachika Clinic Visit

We treated a number of patients with symptoms of malaria and musculoskeletal complaints due to physical labour. There needs to be improvement in the treatment of diabetes, eye care and hypertension. I presented a rural clinical officer with a Physician Travel Pack and a stethoscope which he accepted with much gratitude.


Future Direction

The Kachika Clinic is in much need of equipment and training. The rural clinical officer hopes to expand his services to include inpatients and surgical procedures. However, he has limited tools and information at his disposal.


Visits to Kalemba Community Hospital in Bangula

Kalemba Community Hospital is part of the Christian Hospital Association of Malawi (CHAM). The nearest district hospital is located 50 km away with poor road conditions. This hospital is located in an area where the discrepancy between soil productivity and population fertility compounded by HIV/AIDS results in tremendous economic and nutritional constraints leading to high morbidity and mortality. Kalemba hospital is a former Catholic Church mission hospital. As the sisters aged and returned to Europe, they were replaced by African sisters and the source of "off-shore" funding dried up. They are now in need of ongoing financial and technical support. Funding for Manual Vacuum Aspiration Training is a priority as is the need for equipment.

Here, a clinical officer, with three years post-secondary education, practices much as a nurse practitioner would in Canada, although without the benefit of physician collaboration. It is our hope that in the future EMAS will be able to raise funds to address some of the needs of this hospital. We would also see a role for continuing medical education, for the clinical staff, to raise the general level of care in the community which would also benefit the IRIS Ministries.


Sincerely,

Dr. Bob Henderson
& the EMAS Team

http://malawibangula.myblogsite.com