My name is Rose, and I am the Health Officer at The Sparkle Foundation Malawi.



When I started working for Sparkle, I was worried that I would be overwhelmed and that everything I learned from my university degree wouldn’t be enough. However, since starting last year, I have learnt so much and have been able to apply everything I learned at university to treating patients at the clinic.

The Sparkle clinic treats around 200 patients a week with various conditions such as Malaria and Sepsis; no one day is the same. In Malawi, the ratio of doctors to patients is around 0.019:1000, one of the lowest in the world and under the WHO recommended ratio of 1:1000. This makes the job we do at Sparkle so much more critical, as one of the only medical clinics in the area.

There are definitely challenges to working in such a stressful field because we deal with many different kinds of patients. One of the hardest parts is the diagnosis of patients who already have an idea of their treatment; it makes them feel not adequately assisted. Some patients even feel like they have not been treated properly if they are not prescribed medication. There is a general stigma that if you go to the hospital, you will come back with medication, but the truth to the matter is that not all diseases require medications; sometimes, behaviour and diet changes can be the right course of treatment.

Working in a new environment has been challenging, but I am coping by leaning on my colleagues and knowing that our work is changing lives. I love helping others, and I wouldn’t change what I do.