It is 6:30 am in summer and Makhuwira Health Centre’s Outpatient Department (OPD) is already full of people waiting to be attended to.
The majority are women accompanying their under-five children.
At exactly 7:15 am, a health surveillance assistant (HSA) appears and enquires from guardians about symptoms the children have shown.
“My child has high temperature, is vomiting and has a cough. He hardly slept last night,” says Christina Saulo of Maraba Village, Traditional Authority Makhuwira in Chikwawa.
She looks exhausted. She has walked a nearly two-hour distance with her child weighing about 15 kilogrammes on her back.