Bhekisisa 02 August 2016
Healthcare facilities are working to ensure migrant workers are never far from care.
It is mid-morning in the town of Zalewa in Malawi’s Neno district. A man wobbles unsteadily on his bicycle, which is heavily loaded with sacks of maize. He rides past a mural that reads: “Welcome to Zalewa Clinic.”
Inside the clinic yard a little girl in a black top and blue skirt that barely fits is asleep on one of the concrete steps leading up to the clinic door, seeking refuge from the sun under the scant shade of a small tree.
When it is finally her turn to see the doctor, her father hoists her up and leads her through the crowded doorway.
“We see about 80 patients here [a day],” says William Maliko as he makes a note on the girl’s clinic card. “This is the only clinic around here. The next closest one is about 67km away.”
Outside the cluttered consultation room, men in dress shirts and women with traditional-print material wrapped around their waists, some with babies on their backs, all anxiously await their turn.
But they are not Maliko’s usual clientele. The clinic specialises in HIV counselling, testing and treatment, family planning and treating sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
“Our main targets here are sex workers and long-distance travellers like truck drivers. If they are not around, then we assist the people in the community,” says Maliko, who is in charge of the clinic.
On the move and at risk
Because of the nature of their work, sex workers and truck drivers are at higher risk of HIV infection than the general population.