Health
Dzaleka Health Centre
Also known as Dzaleka clinic, Dzaleka Health Center
The primary health facility inside Dzaleka, serving refugees, asylum-seekers, and surrounding communities in Dowa District.
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Key facts about Dzaleka Health Centre
- Location
- Dzaleka Refugee Camp
- Reported catchment in 2024
- Approximately 86,000 people
- Public partnership
- Malawi Ministry of Health and UNHCR
On this page
Role
Dzaleka Health Centre is the main health facility within the camp. It serves refugees and asylum-seekers as well as people from surrounding host communities in Dowa District.
UNHCR’s August 2024 fact sheet placed the centre’s catchment population at about 86,000, including approximately 54,000 people from the refugee camp. The Ministry of Health and UNHCR operate under a memorandum of understanding through which UNHCR supports personnel, medicines, and medical supplies.
Services
United Nations Malawi reported that the centre provides adult and paediatric outpatient care, HIV counselling and testing, antiretroviral treatment, laboratory services, immunisation, family planning, antenatal care, delivery and postnatal care, and community management of acute malnutrition.
Capacity
Demand has grown with the population of both the camp and surrounding communities. Historical reports should be read as evidence of the centre’s role and workload, not as a guarantee that every service, medicine, or opening time is available on a particular day. Current care information belongs in the live service listing.
References
Sources
- 1Malawi Fact Sheet, August 2024
UNHCR, August 2024
- 2UNHCR registers over 41,000 people in congested Dzaleka Refugee Camp
United Nations Malawi, 25 November 2019
- 3Malawi: Understanding the Health, Nutrition and Population Situation in Dzaleka Refugee Camp 2024
World Bank-UNHCR Joint Data Center, 2 July 2026
Related entries
Place
Dzaleka Refugee Camp
A long-established refugee settlement in Dowa District, Malawi, opened in 1994 and now home to a large, multilingual community from the Great Lakes region and the Horn of Africa.
History
Population and demography
A dated guide to population figures for Dzaleka and Malawi's refugee population, including countries of origin and why totals vary between reports.
Infrastructure
Water and sanitation
A reference entry on water supply, latrines, handwashing, and waste management in Dzaleka, based on UNHCR's August 2024 reporting.
Health
2024 health, nutrition and population study
The Dzaleka component of the 2024 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey: how 720 selected households were sampled and what the resulting report can and cannot establish about the camp.
Health
Fertility and family planning in the 2024 MDHS
Survey estimates for fertility, age at first birth, teenage pregnancy, contraceptive use and unmet family-planning need among women in Dzaleka.
Health
Maternal health and malaria in the 2024 MDHS
Survey findings on antenatal care, delivery, mosquito-net coverage, malaria prevention during pregnancy and malaria testing among young children in Dzaleka.
Health
Food security and assistance
The food and cash assistance system at Dzaleka, the effects of funding shortfalls, and the evidence used to assess household food security.
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