Jon Fielder, MD
African Mission Healthcare is working toward an Africa where each person has access to quality, compassionate health care. One of the cornerstone’s of our work is the Mission Hospital Teaching Network.
The Mission Hospital Teaching Network is providing the next generation of healthcare leaders with clinical training and advanced medical education. Last year, we helped to train 1047 medical professionals in Africa.
This next generation of African healthcare professions will fan out across the continent to treat and train others.
Dr. Serah Msimuko is one of the students being supported through your partnership with African Mission Healthcare. She is in her fourth year of Family Medicine Residency at Nkhoma Mission Hospital in Malawi.
Serah grew up surrounded by preventable death as a result of the lack of accessible, affordable healthcare in Malawi. As a child, she lost both of her parents due to illnesses that could have been treated by a qualified doctor.
This is an all-too-common story in Malawi, particularly in rural communities like the one where Serah grew up. Since its founding in 1915, Nkhoma Mission Hospital has provided care for a large rural community. The hospital has grown to serve a catchment area of more than 400,000 people and is now a 250-bed teaching and referral institution.
With the support of generous partners, African Mission Healthcare is equipping Nkhoma Mission Hospital to train healthcare workers–like Dr. Serah–who will serve hospitals and patients in Malawi and across the continent.
After she graduates, Dr. Serah’s goal is to work in a remote area, where she plans to start a community-based education program focused on preventative care. “I believe this will allow me to save the most lives among those living in the rural areas, especially those who are at the highest risk,” she says.
By teaching families about maternal and child health, disease prevention, sanitation, and other important topics, Dr. Serah believes that she can help avoid the needless deaths that made her an orphan at such an early age.
Four residents–including Dr. Serah—are completing their programs at Nkhoma. Each of these doctors will treat around 5,500 patients each year, creating greater access to healthcare in the communities they serve.
Nkhoma Mission Hospital is just one of the hospitals where we are training doctors and nurses who will change the future of healthcare in Africa.
We have mission hospitals that are enthusiastic partners, and healthcare workers like Dr. Serah who are eager to serve their communities.