We had another day of visiting health centers and a hospital with the Mzimba North District Health Office (DHO) team. The health facilities we visited were the Luzi Health Centre, Ekwendeni Hospital, and Choma Health Centre. We cross-checked the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) records with the clinic records, including malaria, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), dysentery, and HIV new cases using antiretroviral treatments. There were some discrepancies between the clinic and IDSR records, and one site specifically needed extra advice to improve their data recording on the clinic records. The district health officers took time to discuss with the clinic staff how to improve the quality of clinic recordings. We learned the importance of the data quality so that it would be useful for the health programs, and collaboration with the clinical staff is necessary to obtain accurate IDSR data.
The clinic staff was very friendly and welcoming. At the first health center, Luzi Health Centre, the staff showed us their new maternity ward. The hospital staff at the Ekwendeni Hospital showed us their supply of vaccines. The clinic staff at our last visit, Choma Health Centre, cooked nsima and mcheni for us. Nsima is a staple food in Malawi and is made out of maize flour and water. Malawians eat nsima every day just like Taiwanese eat rice with other dishes. Mcheni is a type of fish from lake Malawi that is typically dried before being cooked. It was crunchy and salty, and matched well with the nsima!
Highlights:
- Site visits with the DHO staff
- IDSR data verification
- Nsima and mcheni
All the photos were taken by SHANTU (Verbal consent was obtained before taking the pictures, and all photos were taken by SHANTU)
