Norwegian organisations donate PPEs to Santhe and Chipumi Health Centres
Norwegian Church Aid and DanChurchAid (NCA/DCA) joint country program in Malawi on Monday donated hand sanitisers and face masks to Kasungu District Council and Chipumi Health Centre in Mchinji to aid both health and extension workers’ CoVID-19 Control.
Daisy Katsoka, NCA/DCA’s water and sanitation hygiene (WASH) officer, said the donation was not an isolated one but an addition to WASH activities they are implementing in the areas they are constructing.
“The early childhood development centres have a WASH component providing clean portable water extending to the community.
“Chipumi and Santhe Health Centres are in our impact areas. They serve our project beneficiaries hence our support to them. The support will also reach out to extension workers in the areas.”
She her organization made the donation as a response to the challenges health and extension workers in the two areas face and she urged them to continue being vigilant in preventing and managing CoVID-19.
Principal economist and planning officer for Kasungu District Council, applauded the Norwegian Church Aid and DanChurchAid for the donation, saying, it would enhance service delivery especially this time they are planning for the anticipated third wave of the pandemic.
“One of the challenges we’ve had as Council in combating the pandemic was inadequate resources,” she said.
WASH interventions are financed by the Royal Norwegian Embassy under the Transform program, a food security and economic empowerment program implemented in Malawi by Norwegian Church Aid development fund, Norwegian University of Life Sciences and 13 local partners.
As of April 26, Kasungu alone had registered 702 CoVID-19 positive cases and 25 deaths with only 3 active cases. Malawi has registered 34,031 cases and 1,400 deaths.
A spot check in both Kasungu and Mchinji Districts showed that most people are not adhering to CoVID-19 preventive measures such as wearing facemasks.
Facility in-charge for Chipumi Health Centre, Charity Chandawila said the assistance has come at the right time especially when they have no access to running water due to power problems and poor funding.
“As a facility that is highly challenged with water, the sanitisers will help us protect ourselves and our patients from contracting the virus,” she said.
There has been no running water at Chipumi for almost two months now due to a power fault for pumping underground water.
Mchinji District Health Officer, Dr Juliana Kanyengambeta said they had reported the fault with ESCOM “who promised that they will come to fix the problem.”
Chipumi Health Centre serves a population of around 30,000 people providing maternity, outpatient and outreach services.
Norwegian Church Aid alone has constructed 14 health centres in Malawi and jointly constructed five more with its partner DanChurchAid.
Norwegian Church Aid also recently financed construction of six modern operating theatres at Malawi’s referral hospital, Kamuzu Central Hospital, to the tune of K2.8 billion.
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