Supply Strain: Health Facility Barriers to Health Access

When the AMAI team conducted the assessment at health facilities in Lundazi district, I was unnerved by the general lack of medicine, supplies and general infrastructure.  Sometimes those supplies were present but non-functional. 

One facility received donated dental equipment.  The problem? There are no dentists at this facility. 

Many other facilities either had “improvised” beds or general patient beds due to limited resources.  There were also concerns about power sources.  Since many facilities have makeshift power supplies that include a solar panel, battery and an inverter but the usage from this power source varied depending upon the quality of equipment and any damage that might have happened to the equipment.  

An improvised labor and delivery bed

"If You Build It, They Will...Come?": Infrastructure and Environmental Barriers to Healthcare

A pregnant woman in her third trimester is having shortness of breath, a mild headache and blurred vision.  Her sister, concerned about her health, encourages her to visit the rural health center.  The rural health center is 10K (~6 miles) away on foot after she crosses the river. 

What is the likelihood of this woman going to the health center?

The above scenario might be made up but the conditions are not.  Some of the largest barriers to healthcare are caused by environmental factors and poor infrastructure.  If our team did not have a four-wheel drive vehicle and relatively good weather conditions, our travel to many of the sites we visited in Eastern Province would have been impossible and/or dangerous.  We couldn’t reach one of the sites due to a tree that was knocked down by a heavy rainstorm.

It just wasn't meant to be.