MED25 International Programs
MED25 Mbita ClinicOver 1,500 patients are treated per month with low or no cost health services including treatments for malaria, waterborne illnesses, respiratory infections, HIV/AIDS and other STIs, skin infections/wounds, and maternal and child health.
Community Health Worker
Our Community Health Workers are our eyes and ears in the community. We currently employ 12 CHWs from the surrounding communities- each well trained and a respected member of their community. The CHWs visit residents in their homes and refer them to our clinic if they need further treatment.
Social Businesses
Our focus is not only to improve the health of the community, but also to implement social businesses that will serve as income generation to make our medical projects self-sustaining and long lasting in this community. We have undertaken extensive local surveys to determine the needs based on community preferences.
- MortuaryThe community identified the most needed social enterprise as a mortuary. The nearest mortuary is a 2 hour drive from our location, causing families to pay extremely high transportation costs, or leaving the bodies of the deceased individuals in homes until families can gather, causing poor sanitation and the spread of diseases. This local business is projected to fund is operating expenses plus contribute toward clinic operational expenses within ten months of operation. Construction is near completion and scheduled to open in Spring 2013.
- Volunteer ProgramA volunteer program not only brings skilled professionals from other parts of the world to Mbita to provide needed support, it generates income towards the sustainability of the project.
Recent Successes and Current Challenges
In order to provide high quality, low cost health care, we currently subsidize the costs of providing our services through donations from U.S. donors. Patients pay little or no fees for lab tests and prescription medications, and MED25 International absorbs most operational costs. Our strategy is to create local and sustainable financing to support clinic operations in the long term, following a period of development that requires external funding.
The MED25 One Community Project started in 2012. It not only will provide the community with a mortuary, clinic, and volunteer house, but is already providing community members with access to clean water and electricity, both of which were not available prior to this project. The mortuary construction began in June 2012 and is scheduled to open in Spring 2013. This business has overwhelming support from the community and will be a crucial aspect to providing needed services to the community and long-term sustainability of the MED25 project. Once the construction is complete, MED25 will be focusing on a new clinic building that is on MED25 owned land and is more centrally located than the current rented clinic building. The new MED25 Clinic will cost $100,000 to construct and is designed for patient-centered care. This clinic will allow us to expand our current operations to include much needed services that we are unable to provide now, including 24 x 7 emergency procedural services, observation units, additional consultation rooms, and culturally appropriate delivery and health services for childbirth in the region.