Friends of Sick Children in Malawi

~   helping to create and develop essential healthcare for Malawi’s Children

A better future for Malawi depends in part upon the health and wellbeing of the nation’s children today.

Friends of Sick Children in Malawi (FOSCiM) is a UK registered charity, part of a project based at The Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Blantyre, Malawi [‘QECH’] that is:

Malawi– The Warm Heart of Africa - is one of the poorest countries in the world. Half the population of Malawi are children, life expectancy is about 25 years lower than the UK, and many Malawians barely survive on the equivalent of 50p a day.

There is no primary healthcare in Malawi - i.e. no local General Practitioner surgeries , so hospitals and private clinics are the medical frontline. The public sector is severely resource constrained.

Our ultimate aim for the paediatric service that is being developed is that eventually it will be led and managed by Malawian paediatricians, Malawian paediatric nurses, Malawian clinical officers and related staff, most trained through and because of the project. This should help make the service sustainable for the future and less dependent upon outside help. 

Exceptional commitment and drive by a small band of expatriate paediatricians, together with increasing donor generosity, have helped ensure the current level of positive progress.   

Progress so far

At QECH more than 95,000 children are seen each year.

26,000 children are admitted each year for treatment.

        - Medical Bay for chronically ill and neurological problems

        - Special Care for the very ill

        - Oncology

        - Orthopaedic

        - Malnutrition treatment

        - Babies born outside hospital

        - Neo-natal with high dependency facility

        - Kangaroo Care for premature babies

Also:

· One Stop Centre for victims of abuse – children, girls and women

Staffing:

Our biggest causes of death are now in neonates – prematurity and birth asphyxia. We are working hard to improve neonatal care.

However, there is still much to do and to achieve, so welcoming new donors to join our loyal existing donors is essential to achieving the ultimate objective; not only improving the lives of so many young Malawians but literally giving life to so many of them who otherwise would be lost to the nation and the world.

 

The care workload is seasonal. The hot rainy months of December to April or May bring such illnesses as malaria, typhoid, cholera, gastro enteritis and malnutrition - all against a backdrop of HIV/AIDS and stunted growth.

The mothers or grannies stay on the ward with their children and do much of the basic care. Little ones may need their mothers for breast milk.

The health services can generally be overwhelmed by the need. 

Human resources can prove scarce and without nurses or nurse auxiliaries and clinicians it is not always possible to provide effective care. Frequently, drugs have been in short supply and equipment and other resources unavailable or unaffordable.

However, this relies on goodwill gifts from donors that are often irregular and unpredictable. 

It is a continuous challenge to ensure that outgoings can be matched by income. 

WARD STAFFING

To ensure an adequate level of care, State funded staff numbers must be augmented each year by additional ward staff funded wholly by charitable donations.

The annual costs of such ward staff are modest by most European or American standards and are, in round sums*, as follows:

*the local currency can fluctuate significantly against the £

The current FOSC ward staff team is at a minimum and requires charitable funds of some £57,000 to be raised each and every year.  Given increased demand and proposed additional healthcare facilities to meet that demand, the FOSC ward staff team will need to increase in numbers the estimated current costs of which would be £85,000 each year.

Additionally, the training and development of these vital people, as well as the provision of medical consumables and equipment, presents a great challenge to raise the funds to be able to provide healthcare for these poor and sick children.

FOSCiM raises some of the funds needed to recruit, train and develop, and retain doctors, nurses, clinical officers and related staff in Paediatrics, and to pay for some of the much needed equipment, consumables and other resources. 

FOSCiM is dedicated to raising the funds necessary to support the essential work at theQECH and its expansion into Lilongwe and the rest of Malawi. 

FOSCiM is a big sponsor of the hospital workshop making wheelchairs and other devices to mobilise those Malawi children with severe mobility issues. 500 wheelchiars have been made and delivered so far and the workshop 

                                                                                extended.

Inside our logo you will see 2 handprints, a little one of a child and an adult one beside it.

Please be a big pair of hands and help with a donation.