Sophrida brings care closer to home…

For 28-year-old, Sophrida, posted in the Mwancheka Village Clinic in the Dowa District of Malawi, the experience of working as a local health worker strikes a deeply personal chord.

Like Sophrida, health workers help to ensure that children stay healthy in a country where one in nine children dies before age 5. Sophrida is sometimes referred to as “doctor” and receives great respect and appreciation from her community. Many families who once had to travel up to 25km to reach health facilities now travel no further than 1km to reach their village clinics at the home of local health workers. These families no longer have to pay for transportation to health facilities, no longer have to walk dangerous and long distances to health facilities, and no longer seek medicines at local shops – drugs which are often expired or not the correct treatment for the illness.

Despite progress, tragically we are still losing over 22,000 children under age 5 globally every day from largely preventable or treatable diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria. Frontline health workers, like Sophrida, are often the difference between life and death for children and their families.

Thank you for supporting Sophrida by helping to give her the knowledge and skills to assess and treat children in need!