WORLD ALTERING MEDICINE

Programs: Kabudula rural community hospital (malawi): kabudula is a full-spectrum community hospital with 100 patient beds in a very underserved part of malawi. The hospital treats 200 outpatients daily and is the referral hospital for nine other satellite facilities. 250 babies are delivered there each month, yet the hospital has only 32 pediatric beds, eight post-natal beds, and three beds in the maternity ward. All of this is done without a physician, as there is no full time doctor on kabudula hospital's staff. The needs and challenges at kabudula are tremendous. There are severe shortages of staff as well as of essential drugs, equipment and supplies. In conjunction with the malawian health ministry, wam is providing support to kabudula hospital. Staff and community-directed priorities for this assistance include: hospital staffing and staff housing, equipment, facilities improvement, medication, and staff training. In 2014 world altering medicine has helped to address the needs of kabudula hospital as described below a. Provided life-saving emergency medications monthly, including: malaria medications, antibiotics, seizure medications, and medications to stop uncontrolled vaginal bleeding. B. Visiting physician volunteers coordinated and supported by world altering medicine. C. Construction of hospital housing facility for visiting physicians.

kabudula education and empowerment project (malawi): wam's kabudula education and empowerment project (keep) is a comprehensive community based education program designed to promote higher levels of high school graduation and better educational outcomes for youth in kabudula. Our success is largely due to the fact that we partner with existing community structures, and all decisions involve the voice and leadership of students, teachers and other local stakeholders. Extensive dialogue with community members informed our understanding that high levels of academic failure in kabudula are largely due to non-academic stressors including poverty, food shortages, challenges associated with being a single or double orphan, lack of educational resources, and lack of support for teachers. Our cost-effective interventions work to reduce the immense barriers to high school graduation faced by kabudula's youth. Our programs include: scholarships for school fees, infrastructure improvements, peer counseling, teacher training, food support, and funding student community service. Key achievements include: over 100 scholarships supporting students through graduation, building a library and providing adequate numbers of books for all 400 students and 13 teachers, providing the school's first computer lab and computers, providing the first onsite teacher trainings, and funding student designed projects that make an impact school wide, such as the food program. Wam and local stakeholders are proud to note the significantly reduced high school drop out rate, the significant rise in national exam scores, and the funding of kabudula community day secondary school's first college admit to attend teacher's college. We have a long-term commitment to this community. Our work at kabudula rural community hospital informed us that few of the employees are actually from kabudula, due to the low levels of education not qualifying kabudula youth for future roles as nurses, clinicians, community health workers or doctors. Ultimately, we wish to continue partnering with the school until these youth are able to fulfill their potential as the future clinical staff, teachers, and leaders of the region. While wam was founded as a global health ngo, we believe that the long-term health of the community is best served and sustained through a combination of medical interventions and educational supports.

1. Breath of life since 2009, oxygen concentrators have been supplied at pediatric wards at kabudula hospital, kamuzu central hospital, mwanza hospital, machinga hospital, and 14 other hospitals. Continued monitoring reports indicate that the concentrators play a key role in saving the lives of untold number of children in respiratory distress. 2. Surgery sponsorship watsi collaboration in 2014, through its partnership with watsi, world altering medicine has helped sponsor and coordinate surgeries for patients in rural malawi. 3. 500 miles wam has partnered with 500 miles to provide medical devices to help with mobility for many patients in the kabudula area. 4. Heartgift surgery wam was able to partner with heartgift to provide life saving cardiac surgery for children in malawi with cardiac defects. The patients are flown to the usa for definitive surgery then after recovery return to their homes in malawi cured of their debilitating defects.