Baby Health Clinic
Greetings from the Nutrition/Health Center! We end 2019 with hundreds of babies and children on our program, all of which received life-saving milk, nutritional support, and basic health monitoring. Each one experiences the love of the Father as they are cared for by our ever present and caring staff. We look forward to 2021/22 as we have been busy recruiting Full Time Nurses to replace those that have left the field of overseas work to return to the states after serving many faithful years in Mozambique. These new nurses and assistants will help fill in the need for trained nurses to come along side our Mozambican staff who have been faithful in continuing the work in the Baby Milk Program.
In 2021 we continue looking for new ways to improve the quality of life while sharing the love of God to both the children and their caregivers (especially those with special needs). We want everyone in this health program to hear and experience “life abundant” through Jesus Christ. Thank you for helping us make a life-saving, soul-saving difference in Mozambique.
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The Baby Health Clinic cares for hundreds of children, providing milk, weaning food, primary care and love to vulnerable children and orphans. Social support includes locating caregivers, finding homes and families for the orphans, home visits and hospital visits is also a focus. We build basic homes for some of these families and work closely with local government officials and other authorities for referrals and coordination of care.
One of our primary objectives in this program is to save vulnerable lives. Sadly, the most frequent cause of death among newborns is starvation. Infants are always the most vulnerable. They are birthed in appalling conditions: on dirt floors in mud or thatched huts, under trees in the forest or in vast corn-fields. Their mothers are their only source of milk, but many moms die, leaving the infants with no other means of sustenance. The Nutrition Program provides the adopting caregivers with milk, primary care, training and support – (and most importantly, hope). To date this program has saved over 7,000 babies from certain death.
Some of these caregivers are elderly grandmothers. Some are 12-year-old sisters who are now the head of a parentless household of children. Some are frantic fathers who are full of fear as they grieve the loss of their wives and struggle to care for a newborn, all while trying to hoe their fields by hand. Our team of nurses lock arms with these brave caregivers and join them in their fight to save their babies. We provide nutritional, emotional and social support by advocating for the patient in the hospitals for necessary testing and treatment. In making home visits, we speak truth and value over children's lives and advocate for them within their own communities. We pray with and encourage families with the hope of Christ and His love. We have the privilege of journeying with the children and their families for an average of two years. Children with handicaps or other special needs remain on the program for extended assistance.
Health Care Program
The Health Program works side by side with the Nutrition Program to provide essential care to both the babies and their care-givers. We live in a hot, wet, tropical region where diseases are endemic. Malaria, tuberculosis and infections of every kind run rampant, especially in a malnourished population with little or no access to basic health care. Many of our children are handicapped, making it even more difficult to survive, let alone thrive. The caregivers bring in their babies every one to two weeks for their supply of powdered formula or milk, and a physical assessment.
We evaluate their health and overall well-being and treat what episodic malidies we can. Patients with serious illnesses are referred to the hospital in town. We often escort the patients to the hospital and advocate for the patients to receive necessary tests and treatments. If they are admitted, we provide bed-side support. Once discharged, we do home-visits to provide ongoing support, counsel, training and encouragement to the patients, their families and their local communities. We also engage the local churches for assistance. Recovery is a team effort!
