In a bid to complement government’s effort towards improving the country’s health sector, the community of Sant’Egidio under the Dream Program through its Bridge the Gap HIV/AIDS and TB Project, has donated Information Communication Technology (ICT) equipment worth K11 million to over ten health facilities in Balaka district.
Speaking during the handover ceremony on Wednesday December 14, Bruce Tambwali who is the Dream Project Manager said the donation which included nine laptops, three desktop computers and three UPS power backups, is worth 11 million kwacha.
Tambwali said the donation is to emphasise his organization’s commitment to helping the Malawi Government in fighting HIV/AIDS and TB and added that the equipment will among others help to improve data management service delivery among beneficiary health facilities in the district.
The Project Manager further indicated that it is not a secret that most health facilities across Malawi have inadequate resources for data management and said this was what pushed the Community of Sant’Egidio under the Dream Program through its Bridge the Gap HIV/AIDS and TB Project to make this donation which will be shared among at least ten health facilities in Balaka district.
”We observed some of the challenges health facilities are facing when it comes to data management, this is why we thought it wise to donate these ICT equipment with the aim of advancing data information management within Balaka health facilities,” said Tambwali.
In his reaction, Balaka District Director of health and social services; Dr Eugene Katenga Kaunda, while describing the donation as so timely, thanked the organisation for considering Balaka district.
Katenga Kaunda said the donation will answer some of the challenges most Balaka Health Facilities were facing due to insufficient ICT equipment like computers for the improvement of data management services.
‘We have been experiencing challenges when it come to issues of data management here in Balaka. So, with this initiative we hope our challenges have been solved now and we would want to thank the community of Sant’Egidio – Dream Program for the timely support,” reacted Kaunda.
The Community of Sant’Egidio – Dream Program is running the two-year Bridge the Gap HIV/AIDS and TB Project with support from Italian Cooperation Agency (AICS) from Italy and it seeks to reach out to over 11,000 HIV and TB patients while on the other hand reducing cases of malaria, hepatitis, water borne diseases and other tropical neglected diseases.
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