Stop deaths from TB on Likoma Island, Malawi

Dear supporters,

I have just returned from a visit to St Peter's hospital, taking with me a team of two doctors and a nurse. The hospital was functioning with incredibly sparse resources and yet, due to the selfless devotion and courage of key staff members, people were being cared for and lives saved. There was no electricity and operations were being done by the clinical officers by the light of mobile phones (charged through the one solar powered socket installed with the help of African Steps' supporters). Drugs were in short supply, but the staff were administering them with the hope that another consignment would arrive soon. We saw resilience and strength of character in the face of extreme poverty.

As many of you know, the survival of St Peter's hospital is vital for the people of Likoma, but also for approximately 70,000 people from Mozambique and Tanzania. We were reminded of how far people would come to be treated in the hospital, when, one day we met a young boy (pictured in this report) who had walked for three days with a broken arm from Tanzania, through Mozambique and had then crossed the lake to St Peter's by boat. He had a three day walk home with his arm in plaster and was to return again to have the plaster removed a month later.

I am pleased to tell you that we are making progress with the building of the TB isolation ward and hope that it will be complete by the end of this year. We heard many staff members talk of the hope that this will bring to stop the tide of deaths from TB.

We were asked on many occasions to pass on to you the deeply felt thanks of the patients and staff in the hospital. These people really are some of the poorest and in most need of help in the world and so please be assured that your support for African Steps will make a huge difference to their lives. 

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