By Dr. Jenn Mullarkey
Today, the dental team spent their first day at Dzalaka refugee camp. With only a small medical clinic and no dental clinic, the residents were in great need of dental treatment. We were able to treat 27 patients today and anticipate seeing many more tomorrow. The members of Dzalaka were eager to help us coordinate patients and assisted us in translating the many languages spoken at the camp including French, Chichewa and Swahili.
AHA Dental team Kristen (L) and Dr. Jenn Mullarkey (R) visit Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Dowa, Malawi
The surgical team had another successful day at Kabadula! For the first time this week the power went out in the village and at the hospital. Despite the power outage, Dr. Baker Henson and Dr. Amber Newell performed 6 complex procedures including multiple hernia repairs and a c-section. Our public health consultant Katie Sacca spent the day interviewing patients to gain insight into the access to healthcare throughout Malawi. We learned that most patients have to travel 2-4 hours by foot to arrive at the hospital and that many of these patients fear the hospital may not have the resources to treat them. Access Health Africa aims to identify these issues with patient access to care and help to reduce them throughout Malawi.