First grant awarded

We’re excited to announce that our first grant has been awarded to Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe.

You’ve heard us state these statistics before but they bear repeating. 50% of Malawi’s 17 million population is under 16 years old. 41 out of every 1,000 children die before the age of five. And yet, Malawi has one of the lowest levels of healthcare provision in the world.

Specialised paediatric surgery started in Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) in March 2016. Previously paediatric surgery was only performed in Blantyre in the south of the country. The department has grown, performing 300 major and 300 minor cases a year. September 2018 saw the opening of a new dedicated paediatric theatre. There continues to be a shortage of nurses with up to 30 patients per nurse at times. This limits quality of care.

Our first grant has been awarded to Moyo’s Children’s Initiative, a Malawi based charity, to support the recruitment of one specialised paediatric surgical nurse. A nurse has now been recruited. This nurse will work on paediatric surgical care being responsible for pre op assessment, in op assistance and, work with wider KCH staff, on post op care. They will be the lead on study of nurse led management of patients with gastrochisis. While the study is not complete survival has gone from near zero percent to approximately 20%.

Kids of Malawi UK and the team at KCH are thrilled to have got this first grant up and running. We will bring you insights into how our nurse is doing over the next few weeks and months.

(photo is representative)