Improving access to quality health services, education, and resources through community-driven initiatives in Malawi
Access Health Africa provides lifesaving surgical procedures, trains Malawian medical professionals and students, sponsors patients with complex diagnoses, and improves medical access to meet people where they are.
Why it Matters:
About Malawi
In Malawi, less than 13% of the government’s budget is allocated to healthcare, resulting in a shortage of healthcare professionals. One of the poorest nations in the world, Malawi is a country where 7% of children die before their fifth birthday, and 90% of those providing surgery on over 50,000 people each year are not trained surgeons. There is one physician per 53,000 Malawians, and one surgeon for over one million people. Millions of Malawians are unable to access surgical, medical, and dental care that they need.
“I am very happy to receive this treatment because I will never experience the same problems that I was facing previously in my life.”
— anonymous patient, kabudula community hospital
What AHA did in 2025….
3
weeklong surgical camps
418
surgeries completed
104
staff given hands-on training
Read more at our full 2025 annual Report
WE ENVISION A WORLD WHERE INDIVIDUALS HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE AND AGENCY TO IMPROVE HEALTH OUTCOMES FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR COMMUNITIES.
VISION
Blog: The Latest
It still feels remarkable that this connection was ever made, and that this road forward seems doable. In one of our text exchanges with the support group, it was noted that it indeed does take a village. It’s complicated enough in Malawi when the issue is straight-forward - ie, requiring just one surgery to resolve an issue. And it takes so much extra dedication by so many talented and committed people to be able to stay on track for a multiple-years-long surgical and healing journey as is required for Mphatso. I’m amazed and grateful for all the people and resources that have come together!
In July 2024, AHA Founder & Vice President Dr. Baker Henson joined Dr. Nelson Msiskah from Kamuzu Central Hospital and Kabudula’s staff for four intense days of surgical camp at Kabudula Community Hospital.
Together, they completed a very impressive 70 surgical procedures! Read on to meet Patson, Thandie, and Felida, three patients who had goiters surgically removed from their necks.
Thank you for being such an important supporter of Access Health Africa and our work to improve access to healthcare in Malawi! We have exciting updates from Malawi including upcoming trips, promotions & new hires, our annual fundraiser, patient spotlights, & more.
This year, Access Health Africa (AHA) is participating in #GivingTuesday - a global day of giving that takes place on November 28th. As a small organization relying on the generosity of individual donors, this fundraiser is critically important to helping reach AHA’s 2024 goals.
Greetings, friends, volunteers, and supporters!
We write to you from Malawi, where we just wrapped up seven very successful days of surgery at Mitundu Community Hospital… and we have two more days to go! But we need YOU! After treating 155 patients while our international team was on the ground last week, we decided to extend our surgical camp so that the local team at Mitundu can treat 100+ patients from our waiting list!
Read on for an update - thank you for being a supporter!
Today was Day 1 for AHA’s visiting surgical team here at Mitundu Community Hospital. Word of our arrival spread like wildfire and the community was ready and waiting when we arrived this morning!