Overview
The Katapazi Rural Health Post is located in Kazangula District. 50km from Livingstone hospital, and 35km from the nearest Rural Health Post, serving a population of 6,220. Only 400 of these live within the government target of being within 5km of a health facility. There are very limited transport options, meaning that the majority travel to the clinic on foot, with some communities in the catchment area as far as 30km away.
The centre is staffed by 3 nurses, an environmental health technician and a clinical officer who offer monthly outreach services to communities and diagnose and treat patients who visit the health post.
Biggest challenges at health psot
The health centre has good access to water and sanitation facilities thanks to partner organisation WaterAid Zambia. However the facility and surrounding communities face the following key challenges
- Limited power
Many patients are attended to in the dark. This is particularly challenging during childbirth.
- Limited availability of medication
- Poor access to water and sanitation in rural communities
Majority of households in Katapazi are collecting their drinking water from an unprotected source. As few as 15% of households in some communities have a latrine. This has negative health implications such as diarrhoea, stomach pains and bilharzia. These health issues are extremely prominent in these communities
- Transport Links
Katapazi Rural Health Post is responsible for providing medical services to households up to 30km from the health post. These communities do not have reliable transportation links to reach the clinic, making it difficult for individuals to access these services.
- Rain Season
This area has many streams which fill during rain season restricting access to some communities. Limiting the delivery of antenatal services to mothers and under 5 children.
- Most common health issues
Bilharzia, diarrhoea, skin rashes, malaria, respiratory, digestive, intestinal worms
Our role
On Call Africa works with the Rural Health Post to identify its biggest challenges and assess needs both at the facility, and within the communities in it’s catchment area. We place volunteer doctors in the facility, where they work alongside existing nurses and Community Health Workers offering diagnosis and treatment, and supporting outreach activities, while conducting assessments, mapping and developing clear implementation plans for On Call Africa, Ministry of Health and partners to take forward. We also work with partners to deliver public health interventions that meet the individual health needs of each community.
On Call Africa have trained 6 Community Health Workers from within these communities to strengthen the existing health systems, ensuring that patients have access to medical advice, and referrals when needed. The Community Health Workers have been provided bicycles to enable them to carry out home visits for sparsely populated communities.
We are also working with partner organisations to develop programmes to provide solar power and telemedicine to the health facility, and to address poor water, sanitation and menstrual hygiene, as well as transport links within the catchment area.
