Preparing for COVID-19
Although there have been no cases of Covid in the community so far, our staff at the LM Health Centre are prepared and alert for the possibility of someone coming to the clinic with the virus. Patients are checked just inside the gates for fever and other signs of Covid 19. We have an isolation room prepared if in fact we suspect a case. There are hand washing stations, socially distanced waiting areas, and protective wear for the staff. It is mandated by the government that everyone should wear a mask in public places but because the cases are so few, people are relaxing and not following this requirement in their day to day life, especially the villages. Lifeline Malawi continues to reach out into the community to educate the villagers about the threat of the virus, protective actions, and how they can work together to fight it.
All the other work at the Lifeline Malawi Health Centre continues - in the areas of child and maternal health, HIV, TB, infectious and non-infectious diseases, and palliative care. On weekends there are is an evangelizing team that goes into the community to share the Good News. We are still very much a witness for Jesus as we show His love to our clients and invite them to know more through other Christian care that we offer.
New Dental Clinic
With fewer than 50 dentists in Malawi for a population of more than 19 million people, there is a huge need for dental care everywhere. Most of these dentists provide their services at private clinics and private hospitals in urban communities. These services are too expensive for most Malawians who live on less than a dollar a day. To solve this problem, Malawi is training Clinical Officers to work as Dental Technicians in the public sector.
We are excited that Lifeline Malawi has recently been able to start a bi-weekly dental clinic for people in our community at the LM Health Centre. A few months ago, we received a donation of dental equipment left behind by visiting dentists from the Netherlands who had to quickly Malawi at the beginning of the pandemic. Their donation was made through Action Medeor, a medical supplier to NGOs.
It is not surprising to find widespread tooth decay and gum disease amongst the people in our community, mostly due to poor diet and poor oral hygiene. The services we offer are simple - tooth extraction, scaling, polishing, and filling teeth, plus prescribing drugs for pain relief. Another important aspect of the work is to provide education on oral care, both at the clinic and in the community.
The next thing we hope to get is a simple dental chair!
Spike in Teen Pregnancies during COVID-19
Malawi has one of the highest rates of early marriage and teen pregnancies in the world. Approximately 90% of girls will start the first grade of primary school, but only 40% will start the first grade of secondary school, and only 10% will remain. This is partly due to 50% of girls being married by age 18, and 35% giving birth by the same age.
During Covid 19, all the schools in the country were closes for 6 months. With nothing to do and no employment, many girls found themselves feeling aimless and hopeless and engaged in behaviour that resulted in unwanted pregnancies. Thus there has been an alarming increase of pregnant teens in our community. This was already a problem we faced but the increase caused us to urgently look at what we could do to change the course during the pandemic. We started some behavioural change initiatives amongst the youth, the adults, and leaders in the community. We want to encourage girls to stay in school, and to participate in discussions to address the situation. We also use the Lifeline Malawi Youth Drama Team to effectively dramatize the issues in the villages throughout the community. The youth are now back at school but many teens, especially girls did not return either because of pregnancies or because they entered into early marriages. We are thankful to Medical Missionary News UK who generously gave Lifeline Malawi a grant of $4,216 to help us with in our work amongst the youth and to help in other Covid related responses. Please pray that we will have an impact to change behaviour and lives.
Building Damage due to Storms & Earth Tremors
We are thankful for donors support this Christmas to help repair some of our buildings. Tragically, during a storm of high winds and rain, the roof blew off one of our staff duplexes. Without a roof, the houses flooded with the heavy rains, causing electrical damage, and drenching furniture and electronics. We are thankful that there were no injuries. Gloria and her children are living for the time being in the Lifeline Malawi Missions House.
Two weeks after the storm, our community experienced earth tremors during the night. Malawi is situated on a fault line in the Rift Valley and earthquakes and tremors happen from time to time. These photos show some of the damage in five of our staff homes on the Lifeline Malawi campus. Work has begun to repair the damage. We are thankful again that no one was injured.
