MediServ: Filling in Malawi's Medical Gaps

If you’ve ever walked through a public hospital in Malawi, you’ve seen they’re overcrowded, understaffed and far from spotless. World Camp has the expertise, resources, connections and willingness to make a difference.

In July 2013, John Chizimba’s uncle was in a bad bus accident. Following a visit to Lilongwe to see John’s family, his uncle boarded a bus for the four-hour ride back home to Monkey Bay. Before even leaving the city limits, the bus caught fire and panic broke out. John’s uncle, in his late 70s, jumped out the window to relative safety. The bus, however, ran over his leg, breaking his ankle. In reality, he was lucky to have escaped with only minor scratches and bruises otherwise.

John, Haley Thomas (my co-Coordinator), and I rushed to Kamuzu Central Hospital to meet John’s uncle, who had taken a cab from the accident. All waiting rooms were full. Patients were already sleeping on the floor because every bed in the hospital was full. The nurses couldn’t handle more intakes. The doctors were already in surgery. And every passenger from the burning bus had just shown up, many in worse shape than John’s uncle.

It’s because of situations like this that World Camp founder Baker Henson, with a team of surgeons, nurses and anesthesiologists flew to Malawi this week. The group is the first ever volunteers in our new MediServ program. The team is there to reduce the backlog of surgeries in the Lilongwe area that builds up as a result of a lack of trained surgeons. When they are presented, non-critical surgical cases are added to a long waiting list of surgeries to make room for emergencies. People end up waiting extremely long times to receive life-changing surgeries that could enhance the quality and longevity of their lives.

The MediServ team has already enjoyed great success. The volunteers arrived ready to go, as did the hundreds of pounds of medical supplies the carried over. The group even began working at Kamuzu Central Hospital two days earlier than expected!

MediServ will host a similar team yearly, with the plan to expand to two groups a year within the next 3 years.

To support this, and our other amazing programs, donate to World Camp by visiting the following url: www.worldcamp.co/donate. A generous donor has agreed to match all donations, up to $2,000 through October 31. For the rest of this month, your dollars will go twice as far!

Join us in the launch of this remarkable program. And stay tuned for more updates from the field.


Zikomo, thank you, in advance, for your support.

Karen Clark