Health Emergency Response

Tackling Teenage Pregnancy

EMMS International's Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Programme responded to the rise in teenage pregnancies in Malawi during the pandemic. Your support helped young people make choices that protect their health and their future. You helped girls continue in education, giving them the opportunity to pursue their own hopes for the future.

We continue our support by supporting girls to stay in school throughout 2024.

Asale's Story

15-year-old Asale arrived at Mulanje Mission Hospital three months pregnant.

In Malawi, early pregnancy usually means an end to education and the opportunity for girls to pursue their own hopes for the future. But that doesn't have to be the case. Mulanje Mission Hospital supported Asale through her pregnancy. They helped Asale and the family to prepare so that, once the baby had been delivered and it was safe to do so, Asale could return to school. Completing her education will give Asale and her young baby the best chance in life.

Earthquake Response in Nepal

Thanks to your help, EMMS International was able to offer assistance to support services after the massive destruction caused by the magnitude 6.4 earthquake that struck the Karnali Province in Nepal on the night of the 3rd November. 154 people died and 364 were injured, with 26,557 buildings destroyed or made uninhabitable.

26-year-old Dilli lives in West Rukum in Nepal, and is visually impaired. The earthquake that occurred on 3rd November damaged his house, and he and his family spent a cold winter living under a tarpaulin. The needs of people who are living with disabilities are often overlooked during a disaster response, but our partners in Nepal were able to provide him with a blanket, warm hat, socks, shawl, a winter bedsheet, and a white stick together with 5 days of training about how best to use it. They've also been able to provide items such as wheel-chairs, crutches, spinal air mattress and commode-chairs to those who need them. Thanks to our supporters and the response to our emergency appeal, we were able to provide these desperately-needed funds quickly and get them to where they were most needed.

Leprosy Re-Elimination in Nepal

Urgent action is needed to end Leprosy in Nepal, a devastatingly stubborn disease, pushing its victims into further poverty and a life of suffering. We are working with our partners in Nepal to detect and eradicate leprosy, a devastating disease which plunges the already vulnerable into further poverty and a life of suffering.

Over the past year, 90 people with leprosy have been receiving nursing care at three hospitals in Nepal. Our work with partners in the country also focuses on improving community detection and awareness of leprosy with the overall goal of zero transmission, zero discrimination and zero disability.

Malawi Hunger Relief

On 23 March 2024, Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera declared a State of Disaster, in 23 out of Malawi’s 28 districts affected by recent El Niño conditions. Two million farming households and almost half of the national crop area have been affected.

We are working with our partners to deliver maize flour directly to households where a family member is receiving palliative care. Often unable to take their medication because they are not eating, these patients are burdened by the desperation of hunger. Their families' lives are fraught with obstacles, from crippling family debts to the invisibility that comes with their inevitable withdrawal from society. Our aim to deliver a year's supply of maize flour to 2,596 families through our network of 21 hospitals and health centres whose palliative care services we developed.