What a year 2020 was! Poor rains and drought in Zimbabwe caused a spike in hunger, and the COVID-19 pandemic brought life to a near standstill. Severely inadequate healthcare resources were strained evermore. Yet, our work continued at St. Albert’s and Karanda mission hospitals. Thanks to your assistance, cancers were prevented, hunger was abated, vaccinations administered and infrastructure improved. We hope you’ll make a donation to further propel our work in 2022, which includes shipping higher-capacity washing machines and dryers to St. Albert’s to replace broken machines, requiring laundry staff to wash infected hospital linen by hand.
Cervical Cancer Prevention
From the program’s inception, St. Albert’s and Karanda mission hospitals together have screened 23,000 women – 2,223 in 2020 alone. Of these 2,223, 68 had precancerous changes and 50 had cancer and were sent for treatment. Both hospitals perform physical breast exams to identify possible breast cancers in women who come for cervical cancer screening.
Both hospitals perform physical breast exams to identify possible breast cancers in women who come for cervical cancer screening, and both hospitals continued educational outreach in their catchment areas.
The St. Albert’s and Karanda cervical cancer screening programs have been supported by grants obtained by BHA board member Dr. Lowell Schnipper from the Sarita Kenedy East Foundation.
Shipment of medical supplies and equipment
Donations to BHA and donations supporting Dr. Lowell Schnipper’s work were used to send a 40-foot-container filled with medical equipment and supplies to St. Albert’s and Karanda Hospital. The shipment arrived in April 2021 and included a badly needed anesthesia machine for St. Albert’s.
Extending the poultry project
The International Student Organization at the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, St. Louis, Missouri, raised $1,479 for BHA to enable St. Albert’s to expand its poultry project. The hospital added two more chicken runs and purchased 2,000 more hens. Sale of eggs helps the hospital meet critical needs. Buyers include staff, villagers, retailers and supermarkets. The project began in 2018 with support from BHA.
Personal Protective Equipment
A BHA board member donated $1,000 to enable St. Albert’s to purchase personal protective equipment for staff caring for COVID-19 patients and interacting with the public.
Solar batteries
Donations to BHA and donations to Dr. Schnipper’s work were used to purchase and install 24 solar batteries for St. Albert’s hospital in 2020. The new batteries restored lighting and power to hospital wards and clinics during frequent, often days-long, power outages. Additionally, a voltage stabilizer and an inverter were also needed. Total cost, including installation: $21,127.
In 2021, a GoFundMe project organized by a high-school student, the daughter of one of Dr. Schnipper’s colleagues, raised $3,294 to help BHA purchase eight solar batteries for the St. Albert’s operating theater. Total cost, including installation: $5,073.
Purchase of medicines
BHA provided $950 to St. Albert’s hospital to purchase a shipment of medicines.
Hunger relief
BHA board members wired $4,450 during 2020 to St. Albert’s to enable St. Albert’s to provide food hampers to the hungry and malnourished, often elderly women and men and orphan-headed households.
Salt, brown sugar and soap purchased by St. Albert’s Mission Hospital with donations from BHA for food hampers that contain basic items. The hampers are distributed to the hungry elderly, orphans and other destitute poor.
Brown sugar
Soap for food hampers.