From the earliest days, healthcare has always been a core activity of the Eva Demaya Centre, since the provision of healthcare exemplifies the Centre’s reason for existence.
The clinic’s work is not only curative in character (consultation and treatment) but also preventive and educative, including the provision of relevant training to its personnel.
Preventive care measures are always carried out with due importance given to the need for constant dialogue with the groups involved; any measures advocated must thus take into consideration the lifestyle realities of those involved and must be feasible in the longer term also.
The Eva Demaya Centre complies fully with all official guidelines and legal requirements in the healthcare field; where necessary and possible it also cooperates fully in healthcare initiatives at regional, national and international level, for example in the fight against tuberculosis and in HIV/AIDS prevention.
Western medicine, homeopathy and traditional medicine
Healthcare provision at the Centre consists of three different types of medical treatment: orthodox Western medicine, homeopathy, and traditional medicine.
The Centre also has an inclusive attitude to other medical approaches, with particular respect for those favoured by the Tumbuka and other ethnic groups.
The Centre is particularly keen to maintain open, positive relations with the community of traditional healers in Malawi. In this way each will be able to share knowledge and experience with the other, with the aim of promoting useful cooperation between the traditional healers on the one hand and the orthodox practitioners and homeopaths on the other, to the benefit of the whole community.
The Centre’s founder has always been keen to promote homeopathy as a particularly effective manner of treatment; among its many advantages are that the medicines are inexpensive, have a long storage life and are easily transported. All of these are important considerations in a tropical rural environment. Patients who are too ill to come to our clinic are treated at home by visiting homeopaths. At the center homeopaths are trained by visiting homeopaths.
Outstations
In 2012 Eva Demaya started provisioning of care at two new outstations lying roughly 25-30 kilometres from the Centre. Particular emphasis in this respect is given to care for HIV/AIDS sufferers. Outstation visits will also allow our team to make early diagnoses of health problems and allow referrals to the clinic in good time. These clinics are very busy.
First Aid homeopathy
15 volunteers have from within the community have been trained in providing First Aid using Homeopathy. This knowledge will be useful for those outlying localities relatively far from the Eva Demaya Centre.
Aids education
As part of our AIDS prevention programme, 5 patient-groups of openly HIV-positive people have been established.
These groups try to convince other people to have themselves tested and treated if necessary. This approach helps lower the death rate in the community.
Under-five clinic
Finally the healthcare project includes the monthly Under-Fives Clinic. At this clinic children’s development can be followed, the mothers receive relevant health education and children can be vaccinated. In addition, undernourished children receive food supplements