By Wongani Mkandawire

Nkhotakota, February 20, Mana: Umunthu plus Organization, on Wednesday launched the Revatalizing Health led action in climate change project, in the area of Traditional Authority Malengachanzi in Nkhotakota District.

Speaking during the project launch, Umunthu plus Monitoring and Evaluation Manager Rumbani Mgula said, the project aims at strengthening the community's health systems.

He said his organization has embarked on this in order to respond actively when emergencies come, and to build the community's resilience to the impacts of climate change and enhance quality delivery of health services in community health facilities.

"Nkhotakota is one of the districts that was hit by floods last year and there were a number of things that we observed such as problems in accessing food items and clean water. This led to inborn diseases and infections, that's why we have come with this project so that we should strengthen the health system at community level," Mgula said.

He added that it is important for the health service providers in the community to be empowered and ready to respond to the needs of the community effectively should disasters strike like they did last year.

Malengachanzi ADC Chair, Kennedy Njakama, thanked Umunthu plus for the project and highlighted that the project will help people to be alert and prepare themselves when an emergency hits.

"This will be our first line of response and is very helpful in such a way that people will be trained and imparted with knowledge on quality health services, as they will be trained by experienced health workers and will be fully prepared to respond during a crisis," said Njakama.

The project will target three T/As namely, Malengachanzi, Mphonde and Kanyenda in Nkhotakota District which are areas that are prone to flooding disasters.