Friends of Sick Children in Malawi

We hope this finds you and your families successfully dodging the dreaded Covid-19.

Please find attached our Autumn 2020 newsletter with a few more pages than usual for reasons that you will discover within.

Please share with your friends and contacts, especially those who so generously donated to the PPE Appeal.

Good reading!

Zikomo

Gordon, Liz, Alexis and Stuart in the UK and Joe, Queen and team in Malawi

Zikomo kwambiri - thank you very much

Covid-19 Emergency Appeal – PPE

Things are manic here in Malawi as we try to prepare as best we can for the realities of Covid-19. Everyone is fearful of what might be to come our way now that Covid-19 has arrived.

The country was not prepared for this and healthcare professionals are ill-equipped for the protection of themselves and of their patients.

Nevertheless, we wanted to take just a few moments out to say how humbled we have all been by the responses so far to our Emergency Appeal for Covid-19 PPE.

‘Thank you’ seems hardly adequate but it is truly heartfelt and we still need all the help we can get.

Sincere and grateful thanks to all who are supporting the appeal

Joe Langton     Bridget Freyne     Gordon Cowie

and on behalf of all ............

the doctors, nurses, cleaners and clerks on the frontline at              The Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Blantyre, Malawi.

With thanks to supporter Timothy Moxon:

As with the rest of the world Malawi is facing significant uncertainty regarding coronavirus. Watching the resource-rich world struggle to manage and contain this virus, certainly brings fear to our hearts in the context of a resource-limited setting. Many of the volunteer doctors, nurses and NGO staff have been pulled out of Malawi to support the healthcare efforts in their home countries. This is understandable, but equally leaves Malawi in difficulty as these volunteers and aid workers are fundamentally important in supporting Malawi's healthcare system.

Dr Josephine Langton writes from Malawi...

"I am immensely proud to be part of the healthcare team at QECH. Each and every one of the doctors, nurses, allied healthcare professionals and administrative staff are fantastic, delivering high quality care with the limited resources we have, and I know they will strive to do their absolute best when coronavirus arrives. However, this is the reality that we are facing here in Malawi...buckets of water to hand wash (when there is water), nowhere to properly isolate, no possibility of social distancing, minimal personal protective equipment (PPE) and low staff numbers. We NEED emergency funds to purchase PPE, soap, hand sanitiser, thermometers... the list could go on. Without these the safety of our patients and staff will be significantly compromised. We know that the whole world is facing challenges but please support us as we head into an extremely challenging time, without the luxuries that are available in the resource rich world."

You can support Dr Langton and the whole team in Malawi by donating here, or to make a bank to bank transfer see our bank details here.

Thank you.