Chitanda Rural Hospital
In Chitanda and the surrounding villages, the maternal death rate while in labor is currently dangerously high. Additionally, infant mortality is also high due to the distances involved and lack of transportation for pregnant mothers to reach the 8 existing clinics in the region. The death rates are also due to the lack of doctors at the current clinics, as doctors are only stationed at hospitals, which could be a day’s journey away on foot.
Fola’s plan for a Chitanda Rural Hospital will allow the 8 rural clinics to refer patients to the new facility offering the following services: Administration, Dispensary, Maternity Ward, Delivery Room, Isolation Ward, Pre & Post Natal, Paediatric Ward, Latrines and Showers, Nurses Station, and Labs. Once completed, the hospital will serve a community of 21,000 in the immediate catchment, and up to 100,000 referred from other, surrounding communities.
The local Chief of the area, Chief Chitanda, has given about 14 hectares of land of which has also been certified and approved by the ministry of lands and ready to be utilized for this project.
Once this rural hospital is completed, there will be a significant reduction in infant, child, and mother mortality. The Ministry of Health is ecstatic in anticipation for the Chitanda Rural Hospital, which will also become a job creator, as additional doctors and anesthetists will be staffed there, along with a workforce of midwives, nurses, and administrators. They have expressed their gratitude to Fola for this generous commitment to their future.
The project has just begun, and work is underway for site clearing and foundation marking. However, the project will require 4 phases of construction, and currently funding only exists for a portion of the first phase.
Shampande Medical Clinic
Shampande is a growing community, and in many ways this can be attributed to the investment and growth of Shampande Primary School by Fola. Many villages from the surrounding areas access Shampande, but the nearest medical facility is the Chibombo Rural Health Center, over 15km away (which includes a modern maternity wing funded by Fola in 2013). For some communities, such as Kapukupu fishing village another 15km from Shampande, with no connecting roads, this journey on foot would take a healthy adult almost 7 hours.
A rural health center at Shampande will provide desperately needed basic medical services and referrals to the hospitals in Chisamba, Kabwe, or Lusaka, as needed. This new facility will provide: Clinical and Diagnostic Services; Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health Services; and Health Promotion and Education. It is expected that it will serve a community of 12,000 in the immediate catchment, and up to 40,000 referred from other, neighboring communities.
This project is still in the fundraising stage and has not yet broken ground.
Kalola Secondary School
The current government primary school infrastructure at Kalola is severely overcrowded, lacking adequate classrooms and desks for the 1,125 primary and secondary students currently enrolled. Today, this school supports a large geographic area with children walking up to 13km each way, and during examinations, students come from as far as 30kms.
Land has been cleared and the community has already contributed sand and crushed stone to build a new 1x3 classroom block to upgrade this to a secondary school. Beyond the additional 3 classrooms, the project will provide desks, latrines, and teacher housing. This new secondary school will have a catchment area of 56 villages and will also act as a regional examination center for as many as 19,500 students.
This project is still in the fundraising stage and has not yet broken ground.
