A lack of qualified medical professionals, especially in rural areas, greatly limits access to quality healthcare services in Zambia. Increasing the number of appropriately trained medical 9 professionals in all countries is a specific target under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 ⎼ Good Health and Well-Being . Zambia operates under the World 10 Health Organization (WHO)’s minimum threshold of doctors, nurses, and midwives (22.8 per 10,000 persons), with only 11.2 medical professionals per 10,000 people. Shortages remain the highest in rural areas, where attraction and retention rates continue to be a problem.
Sr. Anastasia M. Kalingeme, Sisters of Mercy (SOM), endeavors to assist in filling the healthcare professional gap by providing quality healthcare services in her rural Zambian community.
With the support of ASEC’s Two-Year Scholarship Program, Sr. Anastasia attended the Chainama College of Health Science and earned her Bachelor’s of Clinical Science in June 2018. Since that time, Sr. Anastasia reports that she has been serving “in a rural place, where doctors shun to go and work” and that the training she received has equipped her with the skills to perform surgical procedures.
Sr. Anastasia provides obstetric, gynecological, and surgical treatment to patients who would otherwise have limited to no access to medical care.
Of the education she received, Sr. Anastasia writes that she has been able to, “acquire skills that will last forever in serving life in communities where I live and serve.”
Providing
evidence that the education of sisters such as Sr. Anastasia, who serve the marginalized and most vulnerable populations, promises to assist in increasing good health and well-being for all. Sr. Anastasia is dedicated to her patients and says, Sr. Anastasia is dedicated to her patients and says,
“I find happiness in doing my service and satisfied when I see my patients well and discharged from hospital back to their homes.”
