Chris Harnish returned via Zoom to provide an update on Malawi and its Health Center Prototypes.
The last time we heard from Chris was via Zoom at the beginning of the pandemic. Chris took the last flight to Malawi and ended up stuck there for some 16 months. More recently he took students and faculty from Pennsylvania when Cyclone Freddy hit. His slides showed the devastation caused by the cyclone. Among other things there is now a fuel shortage in Malawi, with people lining up at gas stations that have no gas to provide.
Malawi is about the size of Pennsylvania with about 18 million people. Half of the population are under 18, and its population growth is staggering. Malawi has a free public health system, but there is a shortage of both doctors and hospital space--plenty to do for architects. Costs are met from a variety of sources including those in Europe as well as the U.S. Clearly Chris is doing more than his share of the heavy lifting.