Providence teams up with Catholic Relief Services to improve sanitation, safety at Malawi medical center
Prior to 2023, the Nankhwali Health Center in rural Malawi was in concerning shape. The Diocese of Mangochi, Malawi listed the center as one of 10 across the African country with serious hygiene, water and sanitation challenges.
With an investment from Providence and Catholic Relief Services in partnership with the Mangochi Diocese, the center now has reliable water and sanitation facilities. It can offer high-quality care and has earned the trust of its community.
Along the banks of Lake Malawi, the center is in one of the most remote parts of the country, serving close to 16,000 people. The center struggled with sanitation due to a water system relying on a power grid that went down often, as well as a shortage of space for bio-waste and no showers for patients. In recent years, poor sanitation led to a cholera outbreak.
In 2023 and 2024, Providence invested nearly $44,000 with the CRS Water Sanitation & Hygiene program to install at the Nankhwali center:
- Two 5,000-liter water tanks powered by reliable solar energy
- Four washrooms and showers, which patients and caregivers can use
- A new incinerator and ash pits for sanitary disposal of medical waste
Leaders at the Nankhwali center said the improvements made a night-and-day difference.
“Infection prevention and control challenges are now gone. We are now able to put our energies to our calling to serve the sick, thanks to the WASH project support,” said Susan Ndlovu, who leads the center. “Our facility’s WASH structure has attracted praise from the government district health office inspectors. With safety and good hygiene assurance at our facility, we are seeing timely admissions of pregnant women to wait for labor. Home births and enroute deliveries in our catchment are a thing of the past.”
