Medical Mission 2024: Bringing Free Healthcare to Munyama

In November 2024, Inside-Out Community Ventures deployed its largest mobile medical clinic to date — three days of free consultations, treatments, and health education in the remote lakeside community of Munyama, in Northern Zambia.

Why Munyama?

Munyama sits on the southern shores of Lake Bangweulu, more than two hours from the nearest district hospital. For most residents, the cost of transport alone puts formal healthcare entirely out of reach. Children go unvaccinated. Chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes go unmanaged. Infections that would be trivial to treat in an urban clinic become life-threatening when left unaddressed for months.

We first worked in Munyama in 2022, and community leaders have been requesting a return medical mission ever since. This November, we answered that call.

The Team

Our 2024 clinic was staffed by six volunteers: two registered doctors, two clinical officers, a pharmacist, and a nurse trained in maternal and child health. The team drove eight hours from Lusaka, arriving the evening before the clinic opened to set up stations under the shade of the community hall.

Three Days, 180+ Patients

By 6 a.m. on the first morning, a queue had already formed outside. Over the three days:

• 183 patients were seen by clinical staff.
• 47 children under five received health checks and vaccinations.
• 29 patients were referred for further investigation at Samfya District Hospital, with transport costs covered by Inside-Out.
• Every patient received a supply of medications at no cost — antibiotics, anti-malarials, blood pressure tablets, and vitamins sourced through our healthcare partners.

Stories from the Clinic

One moment stayed with our team long after the drive home. An elderly man — probably in his seventies — arrived on the second morning, helped by two of his grandchildren. He had been losing weight steadily for more than a year and had chalked it up to old age. After a thorough assessment, our doctor identified advanced but treatable pulmonary tuberculosis. He was enrolled in the national TB programme that same afternoon and given his first week of medication before he left the clinic. Without that visit, the outcome would almost certainly have been fatal.

Stories like his are why we go.

Thank You to Our Partners

This clinic was made possible by our partnership with Reaching Communities Initiative, whose logistical support and in-kind medication donations were invaluable, and by the generous financial contributions of individual donors who gave to our 2024 medical campaign. If you would like to help fund our next mobile clinic, visit our Get Involved page.

Inside-Out Community Ventures runs mobile medical clinics as part of a broader programme of holistic community transformation across rural Zambia. Learn more about all our programmes on the What We Do page.