THE MUFINDI CHILDREN'S PROJECT TANZANIA

 

VISITING THE MDABULO CLINIC - SITE OF THE FUTURE MDABULO HOSPITAL

 

Following an outstanding visit to the Mdabulo Care & Treatment Center, which sits adjacent to the Mdabulo  Clinic, we were treated to description of several other health care initiatives undertaken by the leaders of the Mufindi Children's Project.

 

1. School Meals. Production of crops has commenced near the school and Children's Village to provide school meals for young school students who might otherwise go hungry during the long day they are attending school.  This started out as a "Meal in a Mug" initiative that gave students a nutritious porridge during the school day called "Uji"  The program has been expanded to include more vegetables and fruits which the students are involved in growing. Their parents also make cash contributions to the meal program whenever possible.  The result is a healthier and more alert student population capable of applying better learning skills.
2. Infant Feeding Program.  This initiative targets the identification of HIV+ women who are about to give birth.  Their newborn babies are vulnerable to HIV transmission at the time they are ready to switch from breast milk to a combination of breast milk and solid food.  The program provides education and counseling to such mothers to help them understand the health risks involved, they learn to prepare and feed the formula to their babies, and they learn to monitor their own health status and to seek help and appropriate medications when warranted.  These women are monitored and periodically tested to deliver the right ARV's to them in the right quantities so they can live to raise their infants to adulthood.
3. Home-Based Health Care System.  Many villagers live in remote locations and do not have access to any kind of medical care unless it comes to them.  The only way to reach some of these villages is to walk to them given the lack of roads or the poor condition of the roads.  This initiative is led by Dr. Leena Pasanen from Finland who has been practicing medicine in rural Tanzania for over 30 years.  She has retired from the Lutheran Mission Hospital where she worked in another part of Tanzania and has moved to the Mufindi area to manage the Home-Based Health Care System.  She is part of the health care delivery system that is part of the mission of the FCWCT non-profit that manages all other aspects of the Mufindi Children's Project.  She is widely famous and appreciated for the help she has given sick and injured people in these remote villages and is always welcomed into these communities.  Dr. Leena is also very important to the good operation of the other health care initiatives given her experience and leadership.
4. Upgrading the MDABULO CLINIC to the status of MDABULO HOSPITAL under Tanzanian regulations remains one of the most pressing health care initiatives left to accomplish. 

This Mdabulo health facility was merely a Dispensary when the Mufindi Children's Project commenced in 2005.  The formation of a public-private partnership involving the Mdabulo Catholic Mission, Foxes Community & Wildlife Conservation Trust (FCWCT), and local government was followed by upgrades to the Dispensary that now allows it to be classified as a Clinic.  Changes included the addition of a maternity award, a labor ward, the establishment of rooms for clinical examinations, and the establishment of a place to store and dispense medications.  More recently, the Care & Treatment Center (CTC) was built adjacent to the Mdabulo Clinic and it is now fully operational and remains the most effective tool in the fight against HIV-AIDs to date.

To become a Hospital requires the addition of the capacity to perform major and minor surgery, x-rays, ultrasound, dental and optometry labs, and a variety of medical tests.  Once classified as a Hospital, Mdabulo will be the only hospital serving 45,000 people living in 19 villages within a 30 mile radius,  or roughly 4-8 hours by bus. 

The fund-raising objective of this trip will be to raise funds to complete portions of the health clinic at Mdabulo so it can be classified as a full-fledged hospital and attract more government support in the form  of government medical staff and increased allocation priorities for scarce medicines and medical supplies.  A lot of dental and x-ray equipment has already been donated and is on site as are other medical supplies.  The space needs to be built to accommodate this equipment and to increase ward capacity as well as living quarters for additional medical staff whose salaries will be paid by the government.

New buildings on the left and at the far end create spaces for dental labs, an x-ray room, ultra-sound room, surgical prep room, a surgery, and recovery rooms..

Improvements to the original dispensary include this maternity ward and a labor room.

Some of the dental equipment that has already been delivered and which awaits installation.

Geoff Fox showing supplies of donated hospital gowns which are now stored on site.

Donated x-ray equipment needing installation.

Donated dental tray.

These photos are examples of portions of the Mdabulo Clinic that need to be expanded to accommodate already donated supplies and equipment, the installation and use of which will go far toward enabling reclassification of the Mdabulo Clinic as a Hospital.

 

The Hospital project calls for establishment of:

 

1. Two surgical theaters, an x-ray room, a dental facility, optometry room, ultrasound room, and doctor's consulting rooms.
2. New toilet facilities.
3. New kiosk for patients and their visitors for dispensing food, drinks, and other patient necessities.
4. New medical records room and administrative conference room.
5. Reception center and an out-patient center
6. Refurbish existing in-patient wards that are in poor condition
7. Build new in-patient wards
8. Increase staff housing capacity on site for essential health service providers.

The next blog post will focus on life and programs in the Children's Village including dorms for up to 10 children, each with a full time housemother; infant care programs; Montessori schooling for pre-school children; kindergarten; also care of infants and children in the dorms who are HIV+.

 

Another blog post will cover current status of primary education facilities, secondary school facilities, establishment and use of libraries including mobile libraries, and the establishment of vocational training centers that teach skills that allow older children in the Children's Village to ultimately obtain good paying jobs that lead to economic independence.





As of 21 September, all the Mufindi Mountaineers who will be climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro as part of the fund-raising effort for the Mufindi Children's Project have assembled at the Ndarakwai Lodge on the west side of Mt Kilimanjaro.  They commence their climb on the 22nd of September and will spend their first night on the mountain on the Shira Plateau west of the summit.  In total they will hike over 75 miles and climb roughly 9.000 feet above the point where they start the trek.  There are 12 climbers in the group.  More about them later.