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After 2 years of planning, my elective trip had all come together and soon I found myself embarking on the 7000 mile journey south to Malawi. Ekwendeni Mission Hospital is situated in the north of Malawi about 20km from the nearest city, Mzuzu. It is a general hospital with just...
In March I arrived bleary eyed but excited in Malawi after about 18 hours of travelling. I felt rather disorientated flying into Blantyre as all I could see from the window was green. I flew in via Johannesburg which had been cold and wet so I had felt quite at...
One of my key mentors throughout my path to and through medical school has always been a key of a 'place giving life' in Malawi – a palliative care centre. Inspired by this countryside GP from Gloucestershire, I felt that perhaps this could be the place for me to spend...
Background: We; Vanessa Viljoen, Lisa van der Merwe and Rachel Wood, are three 4th year medical students from Stellenbosch University, South Africa. We had the privilege of spending 4 weeks at Nkhoma Hospital, Malawi, for our medical elective from mid October to mid November 2014. Nkhoma Hospital is...
This is a small (40 bed) paediatric orthopaedic hospital. The children's work is free, supported both by international donations as well as fee-paying adults (there is also a 15 bed private ward, for total hips/knees etc). Theatre is two days a week, the other days consist of a quick morning...
I spent 4 weeks at St Martin's Hospital in Malinidi, Malawi. St Martin's is a rural mission hospital with approximately 50 beds: male and female wards, paediatric ward, and maternity. The outpatient department runs all day, five days a week, and a large volume and variety of patients are seen....
DGMH is a district hospital situated 1000m above sea level, which was founded by Dr Robert Laws over 100 years ago. This location was chosen because of the low numbers of mosquitoes in the cooler climate of the mountains and therefore the decreased prevalence of Malaria. Today this remains true;...
Where I went I went to Ekwendeni mission hospital in Malawi from the 15th of July to the 30th of August. I learnt a lot from the hospital and the patients that presented there. The hospital itself is made up of 5 wards: Male, Female, paediatric, maternity and private and...
I spent my 8-week elective at Mulanje Mission Hospital (MMH) in the south of Malawi. Having previously spent time in sub-Saharan Africa I was keen to return, and hoped that some aspects of the culture I had learnt in neighbouring Mozambique would be transferrable, with the advantage of English being...
I spent my 10 week elective period at Nkhoma hospital, the heart of a small mission community in South West Malawi, 60km from the capital Lilongwe. The hospital has a bed capacity of around 230 (although often cares for many more patients!) – male and female medical wards, a children's...
In April/May 2004 I undertook an elective placement in Malawi, as part of my physiotherapy degree course; to gain varied experience and provide wider support to therapy services already available in the city of Blantyre, the placement involved working at three different centres in sequence. My work was with babies,...
