Health

In Nkhata Bay North, four in five households don’t have clean water for drinking and washing. 60% of families don’t have access to safe toilets. One in every eight adults is also HIV-positive so nearly every household is affected by HIV or AIDS in some way. 

At the same time, the area is so remote that it’s difficult for people to access healthcare facilities or receive health education. Some communities are a nine-hour walk from the closest clinic. Many work and school days are lost to easily preventable diseases.

Access to clean water, hygiene education and better sanitation

Temwa’s WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) project provides simple ceramic water filters to protect people from waterborne diseases. Families pay a contribution towards the filters, which can then be reinvested in other community health initiatives. Alongside this we also deliver hygiene education and build demonstration latrines within each community we support so that families can replicate in their own homes.

Read more about this project in our latest report here.

Strengthening Community Run HIV Services

Following the success of our ‘provider-initiated HIV testing and counselling’ project at 5 local health centres in Nkhata Bay north over the last few years (which means that everyone visiting a clinic is now offered a HIV test),  Temwa is now extending the project into the community itself.  We will be supporting  regular outreach clinics in remote and ‘at-risk’ communities to enable community members to access vital health services and HIV testing. We also provide contact tracing and offer counselling and support to those testing positive which will help reduce the spread of the disease.

Take a look at our most recent progress report here. 

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