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In July 2024, AHA Founder & Vice President Dr. Baker Henson joined Dr. Nelson Msiskah from Kamuzu Central Hospital and Kabudula’s staff for four intense days of surgical camp at Kabudula Community Hospital.
Together, they completed a very impressive 70 surgical procedures! Read on to meet Patson, Thandie, and Felida, three patients who had goiters surgically removed from their necks.
Read moreToday was Day 1 for AHA’s visiting surgical team here at Mitundu Community Hospital. Word of our arrival spread like wildfire and the community was ready and waiting when we arrived this morning!
Read moreWhat does it feel like to be part of healthcare history? Ask anyone who was in Kamuzu Central Hospital’s OR on Thursday, February 2, 2023. That day, AHA and KCH partnered to complete the facility’s first ever laparoscopic colostomy reversal!
Read moreWhen I was less than 10 years old, I decided I wanted to become a nurse because the nurses had nice houses with electricity and good locations. I was raised by her father and stepmother since my parents separated long before I remember. I experienced many hardships because my stepmother did not care for me. On school holidays, I had to walk on foot all the way home and often went without basic things like sugar and soap. Despite the hardships, I always took position #1 in my class. I overcame the hardships and became a nurse. Now I am proud to provide surgical care to patients in partnership with AHA.
Read moreHello Everyone, Here is the latest update about Mphatso, with photos and videos included. On January 11, AHA Program Manager Angela and AHA Volunteer Jonathan visited Mphatso and his mother Aida at the Mercy James Hospital in Malawi. Mphatso had been there for well over six weeks following surgery #2a, then receiving treatment for a post-surgery infection, and finally receiving surgery #2b to close the open wound on his head from surgery #2a…
Read moreWiseman, age 11, suffered from a hydrocele for many months which caused him a lot of pain and absenteeism from school. He visited his nearest health center twice, and then Bwaila Hospital in Lilongwe, but the condition was not resolved…
Read moreFour-year-old Carolyn, rode with her mother to the nearest health center when a large cyst on the back of her leg began making it difficult to walk. There was no equipment or materials to do the operation at the health center. so…
Read moreSince the SAFE program only covers costs related to a patient’s actual procedure, our patients still depend on us for costs such as diagnostic tests, transportation, and food during the hospital stay. Right now, we are proud to be sponsoring nine patients for treatment with the SAFE program at Nkhoma Mission Hospital.
Read moreWhen AHA first began doing surgery in the village of Kabudula (Kab) in 2014, international visitors completed most of the procedures, and only very minor procedures could be done when we weren’t there. The road from Lilongwe to Kab was dirt, and only one clinician had experience in minor surgeries and could independently complete minor procedures. Yet there were hundreds of patients with untreated surgical conditions around Kab trading center alone, and services had not yet been extended to the surrounding rural health centers.
Read moreIn February 2022, Mphatso and his father traveled to Blantyre so Mphatso could undergo tests to receive an official diagnosis. The doctors and specialists at Mercy James determined Mphatso suffers from arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), which happens when a group of blood vessels form incorrectly. The arteries and veins are tangled and form direct connections instead of connecting through capillaries as they should to bypass normal tissue. It was discovered that Mphatso had two veins feeding the growth.
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