Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoMALAWI / CHILD MORTALITY
Download
There is no media available to download.
Share
STORY: MALAWI / CHILD MORTALITY
TRT: 2.50
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / CHICHEWA
DATELINE: 9-12 SEPTEMBER 2012, CHIKHWAWA, BLANYRE, MALAWI
1. Wide Ruth carrying medicine box
2. Med shot, Ruth unpacking medicine
3. Wide shot, Margaret bringing Simplicious for treatment
4. Wide shot, Ruth and Margaret
5. Med shot, Ruth filling in data sheet
6. Wide shot, Ruth giving Margaret medicine
7. Close up, Ruth explaining how to take medicine
8. Wide shot, Ruth giving Margaret medicine
9. SOUNDBITE (Chichewa) Margaret Gift, 29-year-old Mother:
“Now I don’t have to travel long distances to get the treatment.”
10. Wide shot, Margaret kissing Simplicious
11. Close up, Ruth administering vaccinations
12. Med shot, Ruth administering vaccinations
13. Close up, Ruth injecting baby
14. Med shot, mother getting up after having baby vaccinated
15. SOUNDBITE (Chichewa) Ruth Bwahakaya, Health Surveillance Assistant:
“What satisfies me is when a child is treated and the child gets better. Then I feel happy.”
16. Wide shot, under-one being weighed
17. Close up, scale
18. Med shot, baby on scale
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Victor Chinyama UNICEF Communications Specialist:
“Malawi is one of the countries that has been able to make progress in reducing child mortality and one of the reasons is really the decentralisation of healthcare delivery through health surveillance assistance. These are people who live within the communities and are able to provide basic treatment for some of the most common illnesses such as malaria, pneumonia and diahorrea.”
20. Wide shot, Ruth sending data SMS
21. Close up, cellphone
22. Med shot, Ruth sending data SMS
23. Close up, cellphone
24. Wide shot, health service assistant with mother who has come in for HIV test on baby
25. Close up, health worker filling in data form
26. Med shot, health worker doing dry blood spot test on baby
27. Close up, health worker doing dry blood spot test on baby
28. Close up, dry blood spot test
29. SOUNDBITE (English) Asharf Kananji, Health Surveillance Assistant:
“Before we were putting the life of the baby at risk because it takes a long time for the baby to get an ARD. Right now after these three or four weeks that’s when the results come and so we can tell the mother if the child is HIV positive so that they can deliver them to the ART clinic.”
30. Wide shot, babies being weighed
31. Close up, scale
32. Med shot, baby being weighed
33. Wide shot, waiting room
34. Close up, woman holding health passport
35. Wide shot, mother with twins on bed (kangaroo)
36. Med shot, mother with twins on bed (kangaroo)
37. Wide shot, mother dancing with baby
38. Med shot, mother dancing with baby
Ruth Bwahakaya is known as Doctor in her village.
She might not have been to formal medical school, but she does save lives.
Ruth is a health surveillance assistant providing lifesaving treatment and services to over 1200 people in rural Malawi.
Today she istreating little Simplicious. He’s treated and given medicine for malaria and treatdiahorrea.
The nearest health centre is around five kilometres away, so the fact that his mother Margaret can get treatment needed here and now for Simplicious is a welcome relief.
SOUNDBITE (Chichewa) Margaret Gift, 29-year-old Mother:
“Now I don’t have to travel long distances to get the treatment.”
Ruth is one of around 11,000 health surveillance assistants in Malawi who are trained to provide basic healthcare services and treatment to their communities.
SOUNDBITE (Chichewa) Ruth Bwahakaya, Health Surveillance Assistant:
“What satisfies me is when a child is treated and the child gets better. Then I feel happy.”
In a country where health centres are few and far between and health staff such as doctors and nurses are in short supply, these health surveillance assistants have been vital in helping put Malawi on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal of decreasing child mortality.
SOUNDBITE (English) Victor Chinyama UNICEF Communications Specialist: “Malawi is one of the countries that has been able to make progress in reducing child mortality and one of the reasons is really the decentralisation of healthcare delivery through health surveillance assistance. These are people who live within the communities and are able to provide basic treatment for some of the most common illnesses such as malaria, pneumonia and diahorrea.”
Now Health Surveillance assistants like Ruth, have a new life-saving tool at their disposal. The government of Malawi, UNICEF and partners are rolling out a system of SMS technology to improve the collection and transmission of data on children's growth, nutrition status, antental and postnatal care as well as early diagnosis of HIV.
Malawi has a high HIV prevalence, so for patients to get a test result as soon as possible means they can start treatment earlier.
SOUNDBITE (English) Asharf Kananji, Health Surveillance Assistant:
“Before we were putting the life of the baby at risk because it takes a long time for the baby to get an ARD. Right now after these three or four weeks that’s when the results come and so we can tell the mother if the child is HIV positive so that they can deliver them to the ART clinic.”
This is part of the efforts by Malawi to ensure all children stand a better chance of living healthy lives. Because despite many challenges including limited infrastructure and human capacity in its healthcare system, this low-income country has provided free healthcare to most the vulnerable. It has shown that by putting in simple and effective systems, more children can look forward to a better life.
