Nancholi Youth Organization Provides Essential Healthcare Services to Disadvantaged Communities
Nancholi Youth Organization in Blantyre provides medical care, counseling, and screening services to disadvantaged communities through their Stepping Stones for the Disadvantaged
BLANTYRE, MALAWI — A ray of hope now touches the hearts of communities around Nancholi and the rural expanses of Blantyre, as the Nancholi Youth Organisation (NAYO) unfurls its benevolent wings, bringing medical care to their very doorsteps through the Stepping Stones for the Disadvantaged (SSD) programme that embarked on its journey in 2014, writes Moses Thole.
Within the framework of the SSD programme, NAYO casts a compassionate net, offering an ART clinic, palliative care, cervical cancer screening, an outpatient department, and comprehensive HIV testing and counselling services.
Charles Mauyake, a steadfast dweller of Nancholi, voices his profound appreciation for the SSD programme, expressing how it has alleviated his struggle for accessible healthcare.
Mauyake shares his triumphant tale, "I am one of the people who are under ART. In the past, we could walk long distances to seek medication and counselling services which were time-consuming and costly. Eight years down the line, all is well since NAYO launched this programme."
Mauyake also extols the transformative power of the Stepping Stones for the Disadvantaged initiative, noting its role in emancipating the youth from the snares of substance abuse, "Many youths have completely changed. Previously, you could find many of our youths in drinking joints drinking and smoking, but this has been gradually addressed by Nancholi Youth Organisation. So the coming of the programme brought positive change among the youths."
Beyond the SSD program's embrace, NAYO wages a valiant battle against the spectres of discrimination, extending its compassionate arm towards those living with HIV/AIDS, orphans, the elderly, and the chronically ill.
Moreover, NAYO's commitment takes flight, as it extends healthcare's reach through its mobile clinic services, reaching even the farthest corners.
Chifundo Goba, hailing from Manase in Blantyre, lauds the SSD programme for its proximate approach to cervical cancer screening, "Cervical cancer is one of the major health problems women have been facing. Previously, we were reluctant to go for screening due to long distances, but now we are able to get the service close to home, at NAYO."
Annie Magoli, the torchbearer of the Stepping Stones for the Disadvantaged (SSD) Programme, radiates pride in its comprehensive outreach, affirming, "Youth, the elderly, children, women, and people living with HIV are beneficiaries. We have different projects at NAYO as far as medical care is concerned. We are promoting full and equal participation among the youth and at the same time building survival skills for them to be self-reliant."
Yet, Magoli's expression doesn't hide the program's challenges, as she shares, "Although the programme has brought positive change to the community since 2014, it is facing challenges, among them transportation and access to essential drugs. Because of this, we fail to deliver our services in hard-to-reach areas. Most of the time we rely on partners to supply us with drugs, as we don't have donors who can fund us to buy drugs."
With determination, Magoli calls for unity, urging partners and donors to join hands in nourishing healthcare's growth, "Let me take this opportunity to appeal to partners and donors to join us in improving access to healthcare."
As the SSD program's crescendo continues, Nancholi Youth Organization's ambitions take flight.
Magoli shares, "We don't have youth drop-in centres. It is our plan to have them as we go along. This will help to reach as many youths as possible."
Since its humble inception in 2004, the Nancholi Youth Organisation has crafted a monument of healthcare accessibility.
Its own magnanimous infrastructure now stands as a sanctuary, welcoming over 3000 Nancholi residents and their neighbouring brethren, seeking solace in its medical embrace.