Umodzi is a Chichewa word meaning ‘unity’. It is also the name of the children’s palliative care team in Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital.
Child receiving morphine
We see the children who have incurable disease e.g. cancer, HIV, heart disease or brain damage. While the children are in hospital, the Umodzi team of two clinicians, two nurses and a play lady seek to improve the quality of life for them and their families. We provide medicine, information, help with the extra expense of having a child in hospital, and then visit them after they get home.
QECH is a government hospital, with relatively few staff and facilities. Most of the patients are poor, and many travel a long distance to hospital, arriving with little food and possessions. Extra help for families struggling to care for a child who is not going to recover makes a huge difference.