The Luhimba Project:
Health

In the early days there were few medical facilities. The project has built and equipped a dispensary with a full-time government trained medical officer. Benefits to community health are already apparent, but there is still great need for more equipment and vaccines. The dispensary deals with all injuries and illnesses. The dispensary has been named The Angela Carey Dispensary. Solar panels (see Background) enable vaccines to be refrigerated for the first time in Luhimba.

Part of the dispensary is devoted to child health, and the medical officer's wife, a qualified nurse, runs regular MCH (Mother and Child Health) sessions. Family planning is also beginning to be introduced into the village.

In 1999 a need was identified by Dr Paul Moshe for a (non-electric) microscope in the Luhimba dispensary. This would enable some diagnostic work to be carried out within the district, which in turn would mean a valuable saving in time, suffering and perhaps lives - not to mention a new measure of independence.
Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, a suitable hospital laboratory grade instrument was provided and prepared for tropical use. This was delivered to the medical officer in July 2000 by Joanna Dyer, a final year medical student from London University, during her visit to Luhimba.

There is currently no provision for eye care or treatment.

Malaria and dysentery are common.