«Charity continues to give and serve selflessly. I support this nomination 100%!»

 Dorothy Ngoma, Maternal & Child Health Special Advisor to the President of Malawi

« It’s time to recognize nurses who spent a lifetime serving humanity,»

Aster DM Health Care in honoring those who save lives every day

Geneva Switzerland, 14 February 2022:   In 2008 nurse/midwife Charity Salima opened Achikondi Women Community Birth Clinic in Lilongwe’s Area 23, a poor semi-urban area of the capital city of Malawi. At that time the maternal mortality rate in Area 23 was extremely high, even by Malawi standards, a country with one of the highest maternal mortality ratios globally, currently estimated at 439 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. 

Charity realized that many vulnerable, pregnant women in Area 23 were dying, due to a lack of proper prenatal care and the inability to reach the hospital in time if complications arose. She determined that the only way to address this was to bring quality prenatal, maternity, and post-natal nursing services closer to this vulnerable population. Today her clinic provides 24/7 quality services for women living and working in that extreme poverty situation. A remarkable example of dedicated nursing service to health and humanity.

Since opening, the Achikondi Women Community Health and Birth Clinic, Charity has delivered live births of 12,800 babies, with no neonatal deaths and no maternal deaths recorded – an astonishing achievement in a challenging, poverty-ridden setting. If a pregnant woman presents at the clinic with complications, Charity will assess the situation and if it is beyond what her clinic can offer, she will accompany the patient to the nearest hospital, attending to her until qualified help takes over. Only then, will she return home to her clinic.

In view of this life-giving and life-saving work by a dedicated nurse for over 15 years, the COVID Africa Action Network for Nurses & Nurse-Midwives (AAN) has nominated Charity Salima for the Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award. The Award was launched by Aster DM Healthcare on International Nurses Day 2021, in recognition of nurses‘ phenomenal contribution to humanity. 

In addition, Charity works hand in hand with the Malawi Ministry of Health immunization programs, ensuring that children under five are offered vaccination services free of charge. She provides ART services to HIV/AIDS patients  in Area 23 and referral services for patients to be sent to Bwaila/Kamuzu central hospitals, when required due to complications.    

The charity continues her 15-year services as an, dedicated nurse/midwife in one of the most poverty-ridden areas of the capital city Lilongwe, in one of the world’s poorest countries.
* The COVID Africa Action Network for Nurses & Nurse-Midwives (AAN) is a global, all volunteer group of healthcare professionals, supporting nurses & nurse-midwives fighting the COVID pandemic in Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Uganda, Zanzibar, Zambia and Zimbabwe. More info: AAN Co-Chair, Linda Carrier-Walker lcw@carrierwalker.chwww.africactionetwork.com