Have you ever wondered what Orant means? It’s not just a funny word - it has a deeper meaning that we’re telling you about this week in the blog. Read more about it here and learn where we got our name and why we are grateful for you, our readers, donors, and supporters, this week and always.
Conducting Mobile Outreach Clinics in Malawi
Removing barriers to healthcare access in rural Malawi
In some rural parts of Malawi, access to healthcare services remains a great challenge, owing to long distances that people are required to travel from their villages to their nearest health post. On average, one is required to walk a distance of an hour to their nearest health post. This is what spurred our Healthcare program to start conducting outreach clinics in 2016, with an aim of visiting those who would otherwise have no chance of receiving medical attention because of the remoteness of their village.
Conducting Mobile Outreach Clinics in Malawi
Orant’s Mobile Outreach Clinic operates five days a week in Kasungu and Dowa Districts. The MOC clinics are very convenient for under-5 children, those with chronic illnesses, and those who are too sick to walk to the nearest health post. With the MOC, we serve 4,000 patients every month, and we have served hundreds of thousands of patients in rural Malawi over the last 5 years.
For the team to operate efficiently, it needs resources and equipment. Recently you, our supporters, have donated a new trailer to our MOC, as a way of making their work easier as the previous trailer would continuously break down, giving problems to the team and affecting the overall work.
How will our team be better able to serve patients with the new trailer?
“Previously, since the old trailer was always down, the medical team was mostly required to pack medication in trunks and put them on top of an ambulance. They could later unpack the medication at the field and re-pack them once done assisting the patients. This was so inconvenient and hard work to do. Thus, the new trailer will lift this burden off the team’s shoulders,” says Thomas Grey, the Mobile Outreach Manager.
Our new trailer has a good lighting system and is well-ventilated which is good for storing drugs and it provides a comfortable working environment for our pharmacy personnel.
The new trailer also has a well positioned window which is used to dispense drugs and easily maintain eye contact with the patients.
Adding to this, the new trailer has all the needed facilities and equipment including well labeled trays. This helps the team to easily dispense medicine to the patients.
Over 95% of the roads that the MOC team travels to get to various villages are nearly impassable, with deep ruts that make for dangerous crossing for even the most sturdy vehicle. This is even worse during the rainy season. Our new trailer was designed and made to overcome these poor roads, with extra reinforcement of the axles and wheels.
How can you help?
Many thanks to our donors for making this possible! Interested in supporting our Mobile Outreach Clinic? Cover the costs of a day’s fuel for our MOC!
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The Orant Journal
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