Friends of Egypt in Malawi Association (FEMA) Tuesday donated various food items to Kamuzu Central Hospital children ward in its first activity since its launch last week.
The donation coincided with World AIDS Day commemorated worldwide on December 1 and was aimed at showing support to the needy especially vulnerable children.
Egypt Ambassador to Malawi, Maher El-Adawy who accompanied the association said Egypt and FEMA has a lot to offer in the health sector and supporting children who are suffering from HIV/AIDS and other diseases in hospitals.
“HIV/AIDS has hit Malawi hard, FEMA decided that its first activity was to make children affected with this disease smile again and remind them that there people and countries like Egypt that are thinking of them, he said.
On FEMA, the Ambassador said the group will utilise acquired knowledge and skills learnt in various training programs to benefit the people of Malawi.
“While diplomats come and go, FEMA will slowly become an institution that will always lead in encouraging and inspiring Malawians to work hard. Hope and opportunity provided in the training programs can ultimately be beneficial to Malawians if followed by concrete action on the ground when the trainees return,” El-Adawy said.
KCH Chief Nursing Officer, Lucy Mkutumula thanked the group for considering donating to the children’s ward saying most of the children stay in the wards for a long time and run out of basic necessities.
She said the children section is not spacious and face further challenges during the rainy season as many kids are hospitalised with various infections and injuries.
Mkutumula added that World AIDS Day in 2015 has come at good time as they celebrate the impact Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) has had on managing HIV/AIDS.
“We struggled before ART, we could only treat the child according to the symptoms but do little in terms of prevention. ART has helped a lot in the manageability of HIV/AIDS related ailments, she said.
FEMA’s donation which is mostly food items has benefitted over 100 children.
