In October 1964, the University of Malawi was founded. Teaching started in September 1965 at the newly established campus which was formerly an Asian Secondary School in Blantyre. Only 90 students were enrolled.
By 1967, the Institute of Public Administration at Mpemba, the Soche Hill College of Education, the Polytechnic, all in Blantyre, as well as Bunda College in Lilongwe, were incorporated as constituent colleges of the University of Malawi.
Except Bunda College and the Polytechnic, the other colleges moved to Zomba in 1973 to form the now Chancellor College campus.Kamuzu College of Nursing became the fourth constituent college in September 1979 and the College of Medicine in Blantyre became the fifth constituent college when it was established in 1991. Currently 7, 371 students are enrolled in various degree, diploma and certificate programmes.
In addition to motherhood these girls experience social inequality, chronic stress, violence, and food insecurity. When teenagers become mothers, their adversities are compounded.
Mothers need to be introduced to the kangaroo mother care method through counsel and practice, a process that requires patience and ultimately, time.
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Malawi was one of the early adopters of kangaroo mother care, with a pilot intervention in 1999.
Maker spaces give engineers and designers the tools to build low-cost medical equipment using locally available materials.
Brandon Martin, Rice University
Engineering students in Malawi and Tanzania have used the materials and tools available to them to build ventilators, personal protective equipment and UV disinfection systems.
Male involvement antenatal care helps with the uptake of services and retention in care of both the mother and her baby.
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Male involvement in prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV is key for the uptake of services and retention in care. When men are involved, HIV exposed or infected children do better.
Depression screening must happen in the chronic care clinics.
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Depression and diabetes can occur together, and put huge strain on patients and health systems. Depression in patients with diabetes can cause poor self-management and poor treatment adherence.
Child mortality rates in the country are high.
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Health surveillance assistants provide services in village clinics, mainly by assessing signs and symptoms in sick children. An electronic community case management app could make their job easier.
Many people with diabetes did not follow a healthy diet.
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To reduce the prevalence of diabetes in Malawi, efforts to promote healthy eating should target the entire population and not only people who have diabetes.
As antimicrobial resistance increases, the options for treating serious infections dwindle. Doctors need reliable information about which treatments to try out.
Adolescents need to be part of prevention interventions.
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Underlying social and structural causes of behaviour - such as poverty and gender disparities - are often ignored. But these are potential drivers of HIV infection among young people.
Malawi’s President elect Peter Mutharika waves to supporters during the swearing in ceremony in Blantyre in May last year after the contentious poll.
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Malawi’s government wants schools to promote democratic principles. But there’s a contradiction between what students are taught and how they’re expected to behave.
Malawi faces the biggest overhaul in its electoral system since the 1990s.
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The proposed change to Malawi’s electoral system is straightforward and makes logical sense. Yet it’s more complex and if adopted would revolutionise local politics.
Peter Mutharika, President of Malawi, addresses the 69th United Nations General Assembly. He never went home for a month afterwards.
Lucas Jackson/Reuters
One needs to understand Malawian politics to appreciate the bizarre episode in which a state president was unaccounted for a month, leaving a nation rudderless and puzzled.
Understanding what causes diseases is a life-and-death matter. It is a complicated issue that has generated a great deal of debate in the medical community.
Should there be an outbreak of the Zika virus in Africa, the continent will not be able to cope.
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A group of junior doctors, nurses and healthcare workers will not be employed by the Malawian government this year as it is cuts its wage bill to satisfy its international donors.
In Malawi men who have sex with men can access healthcare services but they do not always get adequate treatment, care and support.
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Malawi and Tanzania have created programs to provide sexual and reproductive health services and HIV interventions. But men who have sex with men say it’s still difficult to access care.
Malawian President Peter Mutharika has promised to fight the corruption that has seen donors withdraw their support for his impoverished nation.
Reuters/Eldson Chagara
Malawi appears to have learnt nothing from the biggest state corruption scandal that rocked the country two years ago, leading to donors withdrawing their support. The same conditions still remain.
PhD fellow at University of Malawi College of Medicine School of Public Health and Family Medicine and part-time lecturer in Medical and Surgical Nursing, University of Malawi
Head, Paediatrics and Child Health Research Group, Malawi-Liverpool Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme; Consultant Paediatrician , University of Malawi