Lisungwi - "The Wild, Wild West"


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Africa » Malawi » Southern
November 5th 2012
Published: December 3rd 2012
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After a brief and relaxing vacation at Cape Maclear, the time has finally come for me to begin my duties for Partners In Health. To be honest, I still feel like I am in a bit over-my-head. Despite having an 'academic' background in global health, I have never actually worked in a health facility before, and the challenges of working in an area as poor and remote as Lisungwi will likely be even more difficult than normal.

Just to recap a little from my first blog entry in Malawi, Partners In Health was invited to the country in 2007 in order to help support a number of health facilities in the country's poorest district of Neno. Much of the reason behind the poverty here is (I think) a result of geography. Neno is the only district in the country without a paved road and most of the villages can only be accessed by driving on dirt roads that can be treacherous and impassable at times. The one district hospital is located in the village of Neno-bomba (in upper Neno), which is where most of the PIH staff and volunteers work and live. Because almost half of the population in Neno does have any easy access to Neno-bomba, though, PIH decided to invest significant resources in improving a smaller community hospital in the village of Lisungwi in lower Neno. It is here that I will be living for the next few months, tasked with the job of strengthening the community hospital's supply-chain system.

Many of the PIH-ers who have been to Lisungwi before refer to it as "the wild, wild west." The town has acquired this moniker for a number of reasons. First, it is significantly hotter in Lisungwi than in upper Neno, with temperatures often reaching over 110 degrees Fahrenheit (not fun!). Second, the town is significantly 'dustier' and more rural than upper Neno. And, lastly, the one main 'drag' in Lisungwi is set-up much like an old-style Western town, with one bottle-shop (bar), a few food stands, a carpenter, a metalworker, and a theater that shows sumurai films (random, I know).

While I am still a bit nervous about the move to Lisungwi, the one thing that has kept me motivated is the significant amount of 'good' that can be accomplished here. Because there has never been a PIH volunteer based in Lisungwi before, there are a number of tasks that have often fallen through the cracks in the past, such as taking daily stock of the hospital wards and moving medical equipment and pharmaceuticals from the warehouse to the hospital. To top it off, the disease burden in lower Neno is also higher than in upper Neno. As of July, 2012, for instance, 400 new HIV patients had been registered in Lisungwi this year, compared to 285 in Neno-bomba.

While the lifestyle and severe lack of amenities will undoubtedly be difficult at times (electricity and running water are both very sporadic), I am hopeful that the experience will be a worthwhile one, both for PIH and for the residents of lower Neno. Regardless, I am also confident that I will also come away from this experience a bit wiser/stronger, and with a newfound appreciation of the difficulties involved in healthcare delivery in resource-poor settings.

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4th December 2012

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