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Welcome to 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:
creating and developing free specialist healthcare
for the children of the nation of Malawi.
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 80,000 children are seen each year. 25,000 children are admitted each year for treatment. 9 specialist children’s wards: - Accident & Emergency unit
- 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 ·
Specialist
outpatient clinics for HIV care, heart disease, neurological problems, sickle
cell disease, TB, renal disease, diabetes, and general paediatrics. (over 2500 children get treatment through
this clinic).
 Staffing: Paediatricians
: Consultants – 6 expat (1
in Lilongwe) - 7 Malawian
(2 in Lilongwe) : Registrars - 3 expat
- 8
Malawian (6 about to go to South
Africa to complete their final placements and another 5 planned to start in September 2013. : Students - Malawian 80 per annum Paediatric Nurses 35 (currently)
Clinical Officers 4 Outcomes - Inpatient mortality has fallen to around 4% ; 20 years ago it was
about 15%.
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.  Donor help has meant that we have been able to employ, alongside the
government paid staff, retired nurses who have already served
the government for 20 to 25 years. These nurses bring experience
and commitment to their work. Unlike the government paid
staff they are not moved from one unit to another every year.
Our nurses stay in position and their paediatric experience has
been a great strength to the department and their little
patients.
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. To
be able to maintain a reasonable standard of care, just a basic workable staff
complement is 50. To
achieve this, at least £115,000 is needed each year. The costs are modest by most standards and are, in round sums*, as follows:
*the local currency can fluctuate wildly against the £ 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 the QECH and its expansion into Lilongwe and the rest of Malawi.
FOSCiM benefits from the sale of original artwork of artists in Malawi - at www. MalawiArt.net.   .........................or, contact by email......... info@friendofsickchildreninmalawi.org Inside our logo you will see 2 handprints, a little one of a child and an adult one beside it.
We need more big pairs of hands to protect and help little ones.
Please be a big pair of hands and help with a donation.
Zikomo kwambiri - Thank you very much |
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