In rural Malawi, pregnant women face many challenges including lack of access to prenatal care, poor nutrition, and lack of safe spaces to deliver their babies. Orant is working to change that with the renovation of our maternity ward. Read about it in this week’s blog.
Orant's Medical Treatments by the Numbers
2021 was a historic year for Orant Charities. Our clinicians cared for over 70,000 patients, 40% more than any year prior. We continued running two healthcare clinics: the Kasese Healthcare Clinic and the Orant Charities Africa Mobile Outreach Clinic.
Our static clinic is based in Kasese, Dowa. This clinic includes:
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- An Outpatient’s Department
- A 24 Hour Children’s Ward
- A Maternity Ward
The maternity ward safely delivers as many as 30 babies a month and provides prenatal care for as many as 100 mothers at any given time. Since the clinic’s opening, there have been zero cases of maternal mortality. In addition, the clinic offers:
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- weekly cervical cancer screening
- weekly prenatal clinics
- monthly ophthalmology clinics
- routine vaccinations
- malnutrition monitoring and treatment
- HIV/AIDS testing and counseling
Our Mobile Outreach Clinic travels far each day, sometimes over 120km round trip. It visits hard-to-reach rural villages in the Dowa and Kasungu Districts. Thanks to our Outreach Clinics, people receive medical care who would otherwise live too far from services. According to a study we conducted this year, 100% of 1391 surveyed villagers reported they felt more confident in their family’s health because of our Mobile Outreach Clinics.
Our clinics treat many illnesses, but sometimes our patients need more specialized treatments. As needed, our clinicians refer patients to the hospital. Under urgent circumstances, our ambulance transports patients to the hospital. We also pay for treatment if it isn’t free.
The most common illnesses our clinicians see are:
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- Malaria
- Respiratory tract infections (often the common cold)
- Musculoskeletal pains
These illnesses comprise:
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- Over 80% of all cases treated at the Mobile Outreach Clinic in 2021
- Around 75% of all cases treated at Kasese Health Center in 2021
Malaria is notorious in Malawi and throughout Africa. Symptoms include high fever, chills, and extreme fatigue. Anyone can get it. Both malaria and the common cold can be deadly in Malawi, especially for young children who are under-nourished.
Our healthcare staff saves lives in the face of malaria, infections, COVID-19, malnourishment, and more. As we welcome in the new year, we do so with gratitude for our frontline workers. Thank you for all your hard work.
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The Orant Journal
On the last Wednesday of every month, our Kasese Health Centre conducts eye clinics for local residents in need of treatment. Read our latest blog to learn more about our eye clinics and how they help people in rural Malawi.
One of the greatest challenges that our Healthcare program faces is women starting antenatal care too late in their pregnancy. This puts the lives of pregnant mothers and their unborn babies at risk. Read our latest blog to learn about what our Healthcare program is doing to motivate pregnant mothers to start attending antenatal care as soon as they find out that they are pregnant.
As Orant renovates our campus in Kasese, we find a need for more consistent power supply. Working with Green Impact Technologies, we will be installing solar power onto our campus. Read more about the project here!
Lack of food is one of the factors that affects maternal health in rural Malawi. Read our latest blog to learn more about how our healthcare program is tackling this challenge and encouraging women to come to the hospital on time.
We believe that everyone deserves access to quality healthcare, and we know that making timely and professional decisions can sometimes mean the difference between life and death. Read on to hear the story of Samuel, a boy afflicted by severe malaria.
Orant’s Kasese Health Center serves thousands of people each year. Many women prefer to come to our Maternity Ward to deliver their new babies. Read on to learn about Mwayiwawo’s experience in the Kasese Health Center.
It is always heartbreaking whenever a mother sees her child sick. For Consolatta Kazinga, the situation was worse as she watched her two children on hospital beds, suffering from sickle cell anemia and waiting to receive blood.
This week, we had an interview with Linda Phiri, our program manager for the Maternal, Neonatal, Child and Adolescent Health Services.
Orant's Mobile Outreach Clinic diagnosed Tadala with severe malnutrition. Malnutrition in Malawi is at its worst January to March.