The Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Glasgow (RCPSG) has been a strong and highly valued supporter of The MalDent Project since its inception.

In 2017, the Global Health Group of the RCPSG funded the flights for my initial scoping visit to Malawi, allowing me to see the existing dental clinics at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) in Blantyre and Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) in Lilongwe. I was also able to participate in the first BDS Curriculum Conference that examined the feasibility of establishing a BDS degree programme at what was then the University of Malawi College of Medicine. That visit was the genesis of The MalDent Project, supported by £1.6m of core funding from Scottish Government International Development. The RCPSG was a named partner on the successful grant application to the Scottish Government.

Subsequently, the RCPSG HOPE Foundation funded the costs of sending a shipping container of donated dental equipment to Malawi, which facilitated completion of the refurbishment of the Dental Department at KCH by Dentaid and Henry Schein.

More recently, The MalDent Project team was keen to establish an equitable bi-lateral student elective study programme between the KUHeS BDS degree course and the University of Glasgow Dental School. Thanks again to the RCPSG HOPE Foundation, a major step forward was made possible in 2024 through provision of financial support for two Final Year KUHeS BDS students, Esther Khomba and Chifundo Banda, to undertake an elective visit to Glasgow. Over three and a half weeks they enjoyed a transformative experience, all of which was captured in three blog posts which can be viewed here, here and here.

The MalDent Project journey to date and the graduation of Malawi’s first home-trained dentists has now been captured in an article published in the most recent edition of the RCPSG magazine – College Voice. It has been written by Kat Hannah, RCPSG Director of Communications and Marketing, who met Esther and Chifundo during their visit to Scotland.

The issue can be viewed here and the article about The MalDent Project is on pages 22-27.

The support of the RCPSG for The MalDent Project has been longstanding and of immense value to everyone concerned. Grateful thanks are due to all in the College who have supported the team on the journey to date. We look forward to continuing collaboration.

Regular readers of the blog will be familiar with the Flying Faculty programme that has been in operation since the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) course at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS) was launched in 2019. The visits, supported by Scottish Government, fund short periods of intensive teaching in key subject areas by academic specialists from outwith Malawi.

Restorative Dentistry is a core subject in all undergraduate dental programmes and requires in-person teaching, since the technical skills required cannot be readily taught on line. A very successful Restorative Dentistry Flying Faculty visit took place in 2024 and a further visit was planned and took place between 13th and 17th July 2026.

The team of six Flying Faculty members included four from the University of Glasgow (Drs Andrew Paterson, Abisola Asuni, Grant Mathieson and Prof Shauna Culshaw), one from the University of Liverpool (Dr Jumoke Adeyemi) and one from the University of Western Cape (Dr Ridhwaan Haffajee). Very conveniently, the team members from the UK and South Africa were scheduled to arrive at Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe at a similar time on Sunday 12th July, which greatly aided logistics.

Ridhwaan, whose plane had arrived first, was quickly through immigration and chatted with Drs Peter Chimimba and and James Mchenga …

… until the rest of the team arrived:

We had been allocated a minibus to use by KUHeS and a fantastic driver called Mr Kingsley Gonani who rapidly became a key member of the team.

We headed from the airport to Lifestyle Boutique Hotel, which would be the base for the team for the next few days. The significant volume of luggage included large amounts of donated dental teaching materials that had been brought by team members to support the week of intensive instruction that would follow.

After freshening up following their travel, the team members met for their first dinner together. It was a very enjoyable evening that included discussions in preparation for the week ahead. Andrew Paterson, who was the team leader for the visiting faculty, is a great fan of Nali sauce and began as he meant to go on with liberal lashings that would spice up his meals throughout the week. For anyone interested in learning more about the Nali sauce story, you can view an interesting 10 minute CNN Africa documentary here.

After a good night’s sleep, the team left early on the Monday morning for the Dental Department at Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH).

Once inside, there was a significant amount of preparation required before the teaching could begin. Unpacking and organising the large volume of dental consumables and teaching materials that the team had carried with them was one of the first tasks.

Both BDS 3 and BDS 4 students are studying in Lilongwe, so the logistics of how to split them into smaller groups of comparable experience was a major consideration. Thought needed to be given to the various venues available for teaching delivery within the Dental Department. Furthermore, the phantom head unit required a large amount of cleaning and minor maintenance before it was suitable for use. Andrew, who had led the previous Flying Faculty visit and who also has extensive experience of working in rural environments in Africa, was an inspiration to us all as he led the preparations.

The interaction with the students began with a welcome from Dr James Mchenga, Acting Head of the Department of Oral Health Sciences:

Andrew then took to the floor and invited each of the Flying Faculty team members to introduce themselves. After an explanation to the students of how the week would be structured, the teaching began.

Over the course of the week, teaching took place in a variety of formats and covering many facets of Restorative Dentistry. In addition to the Dental Department at KCH, we had access to a classroom in the recently completed Confucius Institute at KUHeS, about a 10 minute walk away.

The teaching included classroom teaching …

… as well as more practical pre-clinical skills instruction:

Subject areas included operative dentistry and prosthodontics …

… endodontics…

… and periodontology:

The team was provided with access to some of the dental units in the patient treatment area …

… which was an ideal location to learn the practical art of impression taking:

This was an exciting and interesting segment of the week for the students …

… who are showing their post-impression enthusiasm in this photo with Grant:

The planning of this week of intensive activity was a major exercise in itself. Each evening, before dinner, Andrew would invite everyone to provide a debrief on their day of teaching before leading a discussion to plan the detailed timetable for the following day:

In addition to his leadership and timetabling skills, Andrew also proved his abilities in preparation of the phantom head laboratory for the classes that took place there during the week:

In an effort to better organise the storage of instruments and layout of the practical classes, Jumoke kindly purchased a number of containers from a local shop:

The boxes were subsequently filled with a variety of items and labelled to improve organisation in the store room at KCH. Plastic plates were used to lay out materials for a practical exercise in dental scaling.

Whilst the emphasis of the programme was on Restorative Dentistry, an overarching theme for all forms of dental treatment is professionalism, ethics and medical law. Andrew, who has a Masters degree in this subject area, provided multiple small group sessions dealing with the key principles.

A highlight of this Flying Faculty visit was the involvement of Dr Yusuf Maundala, one of the Assistant Lecturers appointed when the BDS Course was launched and who is completing specialist postgraduate training in prosthodontics in Nairobi, before returning to his post at KUHeS. In addition, the team was joined by Drs Chifundo Banda and Felix Nandolo, two of the first cohort of home-trained dentists, who have just completed their internships.

Under the supervision of the experienced Flying Faculty team, Chifundo and Felix both engaged enthusiastically in delivering teaching …

They also developed their communication and teaching skills by delivering oral health messages to patients awaiting treatment, making use of training materials previously created and used in a programme in Northern Malawi:

Another novel facet to this Flying Faculty week was a significant component that examined research possibilities, an important element of academic life that is still in its infancy in the Department of Oral Health Sciences at KUHeS. Later in this post you will read more about the research opportunities that arose from this week of meetings.

For me personally, the involvement of two of Malawi’s first home-trained dentists in delivering teaching for BDS students with the Flying Faculty team was a highly significant development. In the video documentary made by KUHeS following graduation of the first cohort, the then Director of Clinical and Rehabilitation Services in the Ministry of Health had commented on how some of these young dentists would become the teachers of the future:

A photo of Chifundo and Felix with the team of international teachers records this moment for posterity:

On the Tuesday, Peter and I visited Professor Mia Crampin and colleagues at the Malawi Epidemiology and Intervention Research Unit (MEIRU) based at the Community Health Sciences Unit in Area 3 of Lilongwe.

The purpose of the visit was to build on a preliminary discussion in Glasgow in May this year between Prof Lorna Macpherson, myself and Dr Owen Nkoka, who works between the School of Health & Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow and MEIRU. Consideration is being given to the potential inclusion of oral health screening within future rounds of population cohort data collection by MEIRU in Karonga and urban Lilongwe. We had an interesting and positive conversation with Mia and her team on the feasibility of oral health screening and I have subsequently linked them with Prof Shauna Culshaw, who has significant research interests and experience in the impact of oral disease, particularly periodontitis, on systemic health.

On the Wednesday morning, Shauna and I were due to leave with Kingsley for Blantyre, but before we left there was time for a group photograph of the team with BDS 3 and BDS 4 outside the Dental Department:

It is a long drive from Lilongwe to Blantyre and as usual we had a short break at Chikondi Stopover, which is famed for its goat meat.

We arrived in Blantyre in the afternoon and dropped Shauna at The Leslie, the lodge where she and the rest of the team would stay whilst in Blantyre. After a short rest, we headed to one of my favourite restaurants for some coffee and cake – La Caverna & Cafe Mandala. Mandala House is a very historic building and has strong Scottish connections which you can read about here.

During our visit, we spotted a framed letter that had been delivered when Scotland’s First Minister, John Swinney MSP, visited Malawi in October 2025. A previous blog post reported on the visit by the First Minister to The MalDent Project during that same tour of Malawi. The framed letter was a reminder of the strong historic links between Scotland and Malawi and the fact that without the funding from the Scottish Government it would have been impossible for The MalDent Project to get off the ground.

In the evening I had the pleasure of introducing Shauna to my good friend and colleague Nelson Nyoloka, Lecturer in Pharmacy at KUHeS. Nelson has been extremely helpful on many fronts to The MalDent Project and has played a key role in disbursement of monies raised through MalDent Student Aid to BDS students requiring financial support for day-to-day living expenses.

The following morning, Shauna and I headed to the KUHeS Campus and met with Dr Nathan Lungu, Lecturer in Dental Surgery and Course Coordinator for the BDS 5 students.

Nathan had arranged for Shauna to deliver some teaching in periodontology to the BDS 5 students, which filled the morning.

After lunch, Shauna and I attended a discussion with colleagues in the Department of Public Health. This meeting had been instigated by Professor Peter Macpherson, Head of Public Health in the School of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow. Peter has worked extensively in Malawi and currently holds an NIHR Global Health Research Professorship. His colleague Hussein Twabi, who is a Lecturer in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at KUHeS and a Research Fellow at the Chichiri Centre for Health Research and Training (CCHRT), organised a superb set of presentations and discussions:

It rapidly became clear that multiple opportunities exist to develop strong research collaborations between the Departments of Public Health and Oral Health Sciences at KUHeS and their respective counterparts at the University of Glasgow. The discussions that Peter Chimimba and I had enjoyed with Prof Mia Crampin and colleagues at MEIRU earlier in the week also had a direct bearing on the possibilities for joint working. Some of these ideas would be re-visited the following day when Shauna and I visited the Blantyre Blantyre Laboratory.

In the evening we had arranged to meet with Dr George Kafera, another one of the first cohort of Malawian trained dentists to have graduated in April 2025 and now completed his internship. George is currently working as director of a private practice in Blantyre but his ambition is to become a dental academic. Regular readers of the blog will have seen posts he has guest written about scientific publication and his oral health Facebook page which now has more than 70,000 followers. Over dinner we discussed career options and possibilities, informed by a very insightful presentation that George had prepared previously.

On the Friday morning we had arranged a visit to the Blantyre – Blantyre Laboratory. This is another KUHeS / University of Glasgow collaboration funded by the Scottish Government. The meeting was hosted by Mr Youngson Ghambi, who is the Commercialisation Manager.

After introductions and initial discussions, Shauna was given a tour of the laboratory facility, which was quiet because the majority of the staff were attending a training day that was compulsory as part of the programme to gain accreditation for the facility. The laboratory looked very familiar to Shauna as it is fundamentally a copy of the Glasgow Biomedical Research Centre in which she has spent many hours at the bench. This replication of equipment, staffing and Standard Operating Procedures is an intentional feature to support very high quality joint working. The photo below of Shauna standing in the entrance to the ‘Paul Garside Room’ is particularly special, since in earlier times at the University of Glasgow Paul was one of Shauna’s research supervisors.

Following the tour of the laboratory we were joined by Dr Toney Nyirenda (Pathology) and Dr Wakisa Kipandula (Biomedical Sciences) to develop further our initial discussions. Once again, the potential for joint research that could incorporate oral health into ongoing areas of interest at KUHeS was very obvious.

During the time that Shauna and I had been spending in Blantyre, the other members of the Flying Faculty team had been continuing the intensive teaching of BDS 3 and BDS 4 in Lilongwe. Immediately after lunch on the Friday they hit the road to travel to Blantyre and join us at The Leslie.

Before I had left Glasgow in early July to travel to Malawi, I had delivered four new laptop computers to Andrew. These had been purchased by the charity AMECA to be provided to four newly selected scholars on the KUHeS MB BS degree course, as part of AMECA’s student sponsorship programme. As laptops have to be carried in hand luggage, transporting them to Malawi in multiples is a challenge. Andrew, Bis, Shauna and Grant kindly carried one each on their outbound trip. This was a huge help to us at AMECA for which we are very grateful.

The laptops have now been handed over to the four medical student scholars and will be put to good use as they pursue their studies:

Dental students in Foundation Year and those in BDS 1, 2 and 5, all of which are based in Blantyre, were informed that the Flying Faculty team would be available to deliver some teaching on the Saturday. Since this was the weekend, attendance was voluntary.

In the morning, BDS 5 students were invited to attend for a session that focused on clinical dentistry cases and treatment planning. The Final Year of the BDS course is the point at which integration of all the knowledge gained in earlier years is required and the teaching was designed with this in mind.

After the morning session of teaching was completed, Nathan and I accompanied the team across to the construction site of the new Dental School building on the KUHeS campus.

The brickwork on the facade of the building is now well underway:

The hills in the distance provided a scenic backdrop for a photo on the roof of the building:

After lunch, we returned to Lecture Theatre 2 and met a group of students from Foundation Year and BDS 1 and 2, who had accepted our offer of a teaching session. Foundation Year is designed to bring all entrants to courses at KUHeS up to A-level standard in basic sciences before they join their chosen healthcare course. BDS 1 and 2 are taught core biomedical subjects jointly with MB BS 1 and 2 students. As a result, there is minimal dental content in the curriculum until BDS 3.

Andrew and the team decided that a suitable approach would be for each member to provide some background to their own specialties and career journeys. This turned out to be a master stroke and provided an extremely interesting afternoon with which the students fully engaged.

Following a group photograph …

… we invited the students to speak with us informally if they wished. These conversations lasted for about an hour and it was clear that the students had very much valued the opportunity to hear such a varied and detailed insight into the profession they had chosen for themselves.

As this session marked the end of the teaching delivery by the Flying Faculty team, we took a final photograph on the KUHeS campus:

After some time to relax back at The Leslie, we travelled to Ryalls Hotel for dinner with Dr Mwapatsa Mipando. Mwapatsa has recently been appointed as Vice-Chancellor of Malawi University of Science & Technology (MUST), but as those of you have followed the blog from its early days will know, he was formerly Principal of the University of Malawi College of Medicine and was the instigator, with a small team of us in Malawi and Scotland, of The MalDent Project. It was an excellent opportunity for the Flying Faculty team to meet and share their experiences with Mwapatsa. There was the added bonus that Jumoke is from the University of Liverpool where Mwapatsa was formerly a postgraduate student, so they had lots to share! It was a great evening

There are no flights from Blantyre to Addis Ababa on a Sunday, so the UK contingent could not depart for home until the Monday. However, there were Sunday Airlink flights to Johannesburg and onward to Cape Town, which Ridhwaan was scheduled to take as he had work commitments on the Monday. After a final group photo …

… I drove Ridhwaan to the airport to begin his journey home:

Meanwhile, Kingsley took the rest of the team on a trip around Blantyre, taking in key spots including Independence Arch, Limbe Market and a Chipiku supermarket to stock up on Nali sauce.

We re-convened at The Leslie for a lunch based on local items purchased on the foray into Blantyre and, for Bis and Jumoke, a blast from their past in Nigeria:

After lunch, Kingsley drove us all to Chilomoni, so that the team could visit the Dental Clinic that has been established by AMECA as part of the major refurbishment of the Health Centre. The visit was conducted by Wisdom Makandawire who, until a year ago, was the dental therapist based at Chilomoni and who is now a BDS 1 student at KUHeS.

The team were shown the two surgeries …

… and the instrument decontamination facility:

The visit engendered much discussion about future possibilities once the Ministry of Health approves the appointment of a dentist to work with the dental therapist who is already employed there. Following the visit to the dental clinic, Wisdom also provided a tour of the other parts of the Health Centre that were refurbished and upgraded by AMECA – the Maternity Unit, Out Patient Department and Physiotherapy.

On the Monday morning there was just time to fit in a visit to the Dental Department at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital:

On the way back to The Leslie, there was a stopover at the KUHeS Memorabilia Shop to buy branded shirts and bags for use on suitable occasions back in the UK:

Finally it was time for Kingsley to deliver the UK team to the airport after a tremendous week, packed with activity:

Happily, all members of the team are now safely home.

As the sun sets on this Flying Faculty week …

… a few reflections from my perspective.

First, the BDS students are an amazing group of young people. Their thirst for knowledge is massive and they engaged extremely well with the visiting team. These students represent the future for improved oral health in Malawi and KUHeS should be very proud of them. The feedback forms that the students completed at the end of the visit are still to be analysed and a summary will be shared in a future post.

Secondly, my deepest gratitude is due to Andrew, Bis, Grant, Jumoke, Ridhwaan and Shauna for their tremendous contributions during the week. The teaching and clinical environments are very different from those in their home institutions but they rose to every challenge and delivered an educational experience of outstanding quality for the students. The enthusiasm and camaraderie within the team has resulted in a universal wish to return at a future date and continue the work that has been started.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks are due to the Scottish Government, whose support through the KUHeS Scottish Strategic Partnership Grant makes activities of this type possible and moves the BDS programme further towards independent sustainability.

Thanks to Annie Mwapasa, Administrator for the Scottish Strategic Partnership Grant, who made all the logistical arrangements for the week, and to Maldalitso Chabwera for her excellent organisational support in Lilongwe.

Several organisations provided dental teaching materials that were transported as hold baggage to Malawi by the team, and our thanks are due to those donors.

Many thanks to the British Society for Periodontology for sending by courier a large consignment of very valuable handouts for distribution to the students.

Our driver, Kingsley Gonani, was not only a very skilful driver but went out of his way to support the team – many thanks from us all.

Photo credits

The photographs in this post are taken from a bank of images created by all members of the Flying Faculty team during the visit.

In 2019 Malawi graduated its first home-trained veterinary surgeons following successful completion of the newly established degree programme at Lilongwe University of Agriculture & Natural Resources (LUANAR). One of the major players involved in setting up the degree programme was Professor Adam Tjolle from The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Earlier this year, during the Scotland Malawi Partnership Photographic Exhibition at Edinburgh City Chambers, Adam and I met for the first time and had a brief conversation about the need to support young Malawian vets and dentists during the early years of their professional careers.

Shortly before I left Scotland to return to Blantyre on 17th April 2026, Adam contacted me to explain that he would be in Lilongwe from 24th-30th April to speak at a meeting of the Malawi Veterinary Association, and wondered if we could meet. Adam kindly agreed to fly early to Blantyre on Saturday 25th April so that I could show him the ongoing dental developments and to allow time for some in-depth discussion about possible collaboration.

I collected Adam from Chileka Airport on the Saturday morning and we drove to one of my favourite restaurants in Blantyre, Caffe Grazia, for breakfast, multiple cups of coffee and a fascinating two hour discussion. We shared experiences from our respective professions and, in particular, considerations relating to employment of Malawi’s veterinary and dental graduates.

Our next stop was The Leslie, where Adam would stay overnight. I have stayed there several times and it was nice for me to catch up with the staff team again. If you are looking for a comfortable, friendly, good value lodge in Blantyre, The Leslie would be my recommendation.

Another advantage of The Leslie for visitors to Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS) is that they are located very close to one another, and KUHeS was our next destination. We had a good walk around the campus …

… including a visit to the office I share with Dr Peter Chimimba. Adam enjoyed testing out Peter’s executive desk and chair!

We next headed down to the site where the new Dental School building is under construction.

Adam has himself been involved in building projects in Malawi and was a fount of knowledge on the various types of bricks available. Those he sampled for the Dental School building are made by the local company Terrastone and are kiln-fired using wood from a certificated sustainable source:

Following our visit to the KUHeS campus, we drove to Namiwawa and collected Ruthie Markus, CEO of the charity AMECA, before heading to Chilomoni Health Centre. Previous posts have described the transformation by AMECA of the Maternity, Out-Patient and Physiotherapy Clinics at Chilomoni, and the establishment of a new two surgery dental clinic.

While Ruthie gave Adam a tour of the refurbished facilities I had a catch up with Wisdom, the dental therapist formerly based at Chilomoni Health Centre but now studying for his BDS degree at KUHeS. We then all convened at the dental clinic. This was of particular relevance to our discussions relating to employment prospects for new dental graduates, as there is an urgent need to create facilities like the one at Chilomoni if the Ministry of Health is to be able to offer facilities that support the full scope of practice of dentists.

Following our visit to Chilomoni, we headed back to Namiwawa to continue our discussions. Adam has extensive experience of the commercial aspects of running veterinary practices and much of our conversation focused on the possibility of establishing public-private financing models to allow mitigation of the costs of delivering dental care for those in Malawi who cannot afford to pay. Adam has a longstanding involvement with Lilongwe Society for the Protection and Care of Animals (LSPCA) and chairs the UK arm of the organisation. LSPCA runs a ‘Robin Hood’ funding mechanism, whereby those that can pay for veterinary services for their pets are charged a commercial rate and the profits are used to fund free services, for example rabies-vaccination programmes and spaying of dogs for the less well-off. The potential parallels with dental services are clear.

We rounded off Adam’s visit with a very enjoyable meal at Zakky’s Restaurant. The owners of the restaurant are dog owners and they made good use of Adam’s professional knowledge for a pro bono chat about one of their pets!

It was a whirlwind visit for Adam but an extremely useful one. We discovered that we had experienced very similar ups and downs during the respective journeys to establish these two professional courses in Malawi, and have a shared passion for enabling employment opportunities for the enthusiastic and energetic young Malawian vets and dentists now graduating in country. There is no doubt that our discussions have only just begun and I look forward to continuing this valuable inter-professional collaboration both in Scotland and Malawi.

Acknowledgement

Many thanks to Stuart Brown, CEO of the Scotland Malawi Partnership (SMP), who introduced Adam and I to one another – the SMP delivering on its networking role!

At the end of April this year, officials from Scottish Government International Development (SGID) visited Malawi and Zambia as part of the process of handover of work from Joanna Keating, the outgoing Head of the International Development Team, to her successor Morten Christensen. The delegation also included Katherine (Kat) White who has recently taken up the post of Deputy Director for International Development and Climate Change, and Carrie Sweeney who is the SGID Malawi desk officer.

As those familiar with The MalDent Project will know, SGID has been our principal funder since 2018 and Joanna Keating has been hugely helpful to us in so many ways. The multiple facets of the project, together with hurdles such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have thrown up more than their fair share of challenges, but the advice and support of Joanna and her team have helped us to maintain momentum and keep the programme of work on track. We have many reasons to be grateful to Joanna and I was delighted that I was in Malawi for her ‘farewell tour’.

The team arrived in Blantyre on the afternoon of Wednesday 22nd April:

From the car, the delegation walked to the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) …

… and whilst there they visited the Dental Department, where currently the BDS 5 students are completing their year of Integrated Clinical Dentistry training.

From the QECH the visitors were driven to the KUHeS campus where they were able to visit the building site for the new Dental School and Integrated Teaching Facility. I was delighted to meet Morten Christensen, Joanna’s successor, and look forward to working with him into the future.

Once we were inside the perimeter fence, Peter gave an update on progress with the building project …

… then Joanna and Morten took the opportunity for some photos next to the building that had been designed with funding provided by SGID:

The site visit was also an opportunity for Joanna and her colleagues to meet with Richard Longwe, the Mango Tree Construction Company site manager:

I was pleased to have the opportunity to stress how the Scottish Government funding for The MalDent Project has allowed us to leverage significant additional funding from other donors, including the $5.2 million from the World Bank that is supporting the construction of the new building.

We moved from the construction site to the Blantyre Blantyre Lab, another Scottish Government funded KUHeS / University of Glasgow project, where the visitors were shown round the various elements of this state-of-the-art biomedical research facility:

Finally we walked up to the Board Room in the Library for a series of short speeches which reflected the longstanding partnership between the Scottish Government and KUHeS. It was also an opportunity for the Vice-Chancellor and others to thank Joanna for her longstanding support and encouragement during her tenure as Head of the Scottish Government International Development Team.

Each member of the Scottish Government delegation was presented with a gift by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Macpherson Mallewa …

… before a final group photograph was taken:

It is no exaggeration to say that without the funding for The MalDent Project from the Scottish Government there would be no Bachelor of Dental Surgery degree programme in Malawi or National Oral Health Policy, and none of the related activities such as the construction of the new Dental School building or the completed National Child Oral Health Survey would have been possible. Joanna Keating has been a constant throughout this journey and Peter, James and I were delighted to have this photo taken with her, standing appropriately in front of a poster depicting the first group of dental graduates celebrating the award of their degrees in April 2025:

On behalf of all members of The MalDent Project team, I would like to thank Joanna for the tremendous support we have received from her and colleagues in the SGID team since 2018. Finally, Joanna, safe travels and the very best of luck in your new role for the Scottish Government in Canada.

Acknowledgement

Thanks are due to Innocent Mauya, KUHeS photographer, for many of the images used in this post.

I will shortly be retuning to the UK for a month, so before I leave I am posting this quick update on the continuing progress of the new building. Much has happened since my previous post.

The structure is slowly becoming surrounded by scaffolding and netting as a prelude to the extensive bricklaying that is to follow for the facade.

The shuttering has now been removed from the service pods on the roof and brick in-filling has commenced.

The external brick skin will be a very important feature of the building and is specified in detail by the architect. The contractor is refining the practicalities of the construction process and Leon Grobbelaar from JMP is due to visit shortly to review the sample walls before confirming the way ahead.

Inside the building, the central atrium has now been cleared of scaffolding. As part of the significant progress with the interior bricklaying, the walls on both sides of the lecture theatre space have been completed:

As increasingly more walls are built, the internal structure of the new facility is beginning to emerge:

One of the most exciting recent developments is seeing the partitions being built that will separate the individual dental chairs in the teaching clinics into cubicles. These dividers will provide privacy for patients but allow clinical supervisors to keep a watchful eye on dental students as they carry out treatment procedures.

Electrical services are now appearing inside the building, providing further evidence of the rapid progress underway:

Significant progress is also being made with the early stages of the landscaping around the building. The deep trench that was previously present along the basement wall on the north elevation is now virtually filled with soil:

The soil compaction shown in the previous post has continued at every stage of the infill process:

Preliminary earthworks have also begun on the eastern side of the building …

… where once again compaction is being undertaken carefully:

The large number of galvanised ties that are required for use by the bricklayers are not currently available in Malawi, so they are being individually produced on site from galvanised wire. The wire is manipulated into a figure of eight shape by bending it around a jig and then twisting in the centre to complete the fabrication, as shown in this short video:

A team from the funder of the building, the World Bank, carried out a site inspection recently, and the visitors were pleased with progress. Before the team arrived, there was time for some informal chat among the local team, including a discussion between our Clerk of Works, Jess Bailey, and Peter Chimimba. We first met Jess during a previous visit to Malawi by Leon Grobbelaar from John McAslan+Partners before construction started, and we are delighted that she is now so closely involved in our project.

On the basis of the pace of construction to date, I anticipate further major advances when I return in mid-April!

Article submitted by John McAslan+Partners in Architecture Today

Finally, a news item about the new building has appeared recently in Architecture Today. If you would like to read the illustrated article, you can view it here.

The Scotland Malawi Partnership (SMP) has been part of the MalDent Project journey since I was first introduced to the organisation by my University of Glasgow colleagues and friends, Alex Mackay and Paul Garside, at the SMP Annual General Meeting in 2018. Several of the multiple collaborations that have been key to progress of the MalDent Project have resulted from SMP meetings and publications, a reflection of its networking role in establishing respectful people to people partnerships.

The SMP is currently in its 20th year and an event held in Edinburgh City Chambers on 20th January was a very fitting birthday celebration, showcasing in multiple ways the variety and scope of the organisation’s work.

One of the ongoing initiatives to celebrate twenty years has been the establishment of a travelling photographic exhibition, which provides a pictorial collage of the work of multiple partnerships between Scottish and Malawian individuals and organisations across a wide variety of sectors such as education, health, water, sanitation and climate change. The exhibition, entitled “Anthu Pamodzi” (“People Together”), was launched in Killearn in September 2025. On 20th January 2026, the next stop for the exhibition was Edinburgh City Chambers, where it formed the backdrop to a visit by our Honorary Patron, Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal.

In addition to the photographic exhibition, the SMP has produced a book which provides an overview of many of the partnerships that have operated between Scotland and Malawi during its twenty year existence, and the event at Edinburgh City Chambers would incorporate the launch of the publication.

The event was opened by Nasim Vadalia, the SMP Communications & Engagement Officer, who welcomed delegates and provided some housekeeping information:

Stuart Brown and I, as CEO and Chair respectively of the SMP, delivered opening remarks. As part of his introduction, Stuart invited two pupils from George Watson’s College to say a few words about their recent visit to Malawi and the impact they had felt from that experience. These comments from the perspective of young people were especially impactful.

I then introduced colleagues who had played a central role in writing some of the themed sections in the book to say a few words about their respective chapters. First to speak was Senior Vice-Chair of the SMP, Susan Dalgety, on the ‘Schools’ section …

… followed by Professors Heather Cubie and Tracy Morse on ‘Health’ and the ‘WASH agenda’ respectively …

… then Dr Ben Wilson on ‘Climate Change’ and Dr Yonah Matemba on ‘Higher Education’ …

Malawi’s High Commissioner, His Excellency Dr Thomas Bisika, who had travelled from London, then addressed the delegates and was presented with a copy of the celebratory book.

Jo Roberts, who leads on fund-raising for the SMP, spoke about the new ‘Friends of the SMP’ initiative and then Chad Morse, Deputy CEO of the SMP, outlined arrangements for the remainder of the event.

For the next 30 minutes, guests had an opportunity to view the photographic exhibition. In the photograph below, Professor Stuart Baird, representing the Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Glasgow (RCPSG), is viewing photographs in the ‘Health’ section. The RCPSG was a sponsor of the SMP@20 book and it was particularly appropriate that Stuart attended as one of the representatives of the College following his close involvement over the years with work in Malawi relating to his specialty of podiatry.

At the appointed time, HRH The Princess Royal was greeted in the quadrangle of Edinburgh City Chambers by the Lord Provost, and following brief conversations with Stuart and I we all proceeded up the stairs towards the photographic exhibition. En route there was a meeting with Revia Bamusi, the SMP Finance Officer and Nasim Vadalia, the Communications & Engagement Officer, both of whom are Malawian.

Susan Dalgety, Senior Vice-Chair of the SMP, escorted The Princess Royal into the main chamber to make introductions to the various assembled groups.

From the perspective of the MalDent Project, our contribution was in the sections of the photographic exhibition sections that covered ‘Health’ and ‘Higher Education’. The health section was hosted by Professor Heather Cubie, who introduced the various contributors in turn to The Princess Royal.

Pictured second from the left in the following photograph is Ruthie Markus, CEO of the charity AMECA, which has become a highly valued partner organisation of the MalDent Project:

The Royal visit also provided Professor Paul Garside and I with an opportunity to explain the valuable, supportive role played by the University of Glasgow in establishing the Blantyre Blantyre Laboratory at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, as well as the various activities of the MalDent Project, both funded by the Scottish Government.

The MalDent Project also featured in the section of the photographic exhibition dealing with Further & Higher Education, which included an image of the first BDS graduates and some of the teaching staff members on Graduation Day, 30th April 2025.

Following a tour of the various groups of colleagues that had been assembled for the visit, The Princess Royal was presented with a copy of the SMP book.

The book presentation was followed by cutting of the birthday cake, which would be consumed later in the event by the delegates present.

Before departing, The Princess Royal was presented with a posy of flowers by pupils from George Watson’s College in Edinburgh, all of whom had visited Malawi in the recent past.

Following the departure of The Princess Royal, delegates enjoyed Mzuzu coffee with birthday cake as they continued to network and view the photographic exhibition.

I had been especially pleased that Chris Cox was attending the event to represent Henry Schein, one of the sponsors of the SMP@20 book. Chris had spent a week in Malawi in 2022 with Stuart Bassham of Dentaid and I, undertaking the installation of dental chairs and phantom head simulation units at Kamuzu Central Hospital Dental Department. Chris also played a significant role in the design of the new dental clinic at Chilomoni Health Centre and has provided advice to John McAslan + Partners on the design of the new Dental School building at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences.

It was an excellent opportunity for networking among SMP members, including here a conversation between Olivia Giles, CEO of 500 miles and Ruthie Markus, CEO of AMECA:

It was a particular pleasure to welcome David Hope-Jones, former longstanding CEO of the SMP, to the event, providing an opportunity for him to catch up with friends and colleagues from his time in office:

The SMP is extremely grateful to the organisations which have contributed financial support towards the production costs of the SMPO@20 book. The generous sponsors are:

• George Watson’s College
• Henry Schein
• Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Glasgow
• The Church of Scotland
• University of Strathclyde Centre for Sustainable Development
• WaterAid

Developing the photographic exhibition, compiling the book and organising the event had required significant work and commitment from the staff team, trustees and all the contributors of the photographs and text. A celebratory photograph of the SMP staff team and trustees seemed an appropriate way to finish off this very successful event.

An electronic version of the SMP@20 book can be downloaded here.

Acknowledgements

Grateful thanks are due to Moira Kay Nicol for design of the SMP@20 book, and to Winter & Simpson Print for its production. Both were great to work with.

The photographs in this post were supplied by Kirsty Stroma Photography to whom due acknowledgement is given.

Grateful thanks are due to the Scottish Government for its long term and continuing support of the Scotland Malawi Partnership over its 20 year history.

I returned to Malawi on 31st January following six weeks spent in the UK. Shortly after arriving back, I visited the construction site of the new Dental School / Integrated Teaching Facility at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences and was astonished to see the progress that had been made since my last post on the project. The concrete roof structures are now all in place and many of the supporting scaffolding poles in the lower levels have been removed.

The building is truly beginning to take shape now that the concrete superstructure is completed:

Attention has now turned from concrete to brickwork. In the basement, partition walls are flying up and the individual rooms and facilities are emerging within the previously open space.

Some of the supporting scaffolding is still in place in the atrium, but nevertheless the concept of this multi-functional central space, that can be used for either formal lectures or as a communal social environment, is now very much in evidence.

Two significant concerns during the earlier stages of the build had been the potential impact of the rainy season and the possible challenge of procurement of building materials. Fortunately, the rains in Blantyre have so far not been sufficiently heavy to interfere with the construction work and now the roof is in place, work can continue inside the building regardless of the weather. There have also been no serious problems of building material availability to date, with the added advantage that items such as cement can now be stored undercover in the dry.

As well as the work underway inside the building, various ancillary items required by the specialist tradespeople working on the project are being constructed on site. This will include a large number of galvanised wire ties for use by the bricklayers.

During my visit it was possible to reach the newly constructed roof which incorporates a concrete pod at each corner that will house various items of plant to service the building.

Back to ground level, and work has begun to infill the deep trench running alongside what will be the underground basement wall on the north elevation of the building, where it is built into the natural gradient of the site.

The soil that is used has been carefully chosen from the material removed during the original earthworks on the site, and is graded through a sieve, prior to compacting.

The bricks that are to be used for the outer skin of the building are produced by a Malawian company called Terrastone. In an earlier post we described visiting the factory where the bricks are made. The dimensions of the concrete superstructure have been determined based on the unit size of the chosen bricks.

The architects have provided a detailed specification for how the bricks are to be laid and pointed. A sample section is currently being constructed which will be inspected by Leon Grobbelaar, one of the John McAslan + Partners architects, before the main programme of bricklaying begins.

I share an office in the KUHeS Library with Peter Chimimba, from where we have a very clear view of the building:

Suddenly, with the roof now in place, the model is coming to life …!

Many thanks are due to Mango Tree Construction Company and all its staff team for the relentless push towards a timely completion of the building. Exciting times!

This is a further guest blog post written by Dr George Kafera, one of the first BDS graduates from Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, who is currently an intern in the Dental Department at Kamuzu Central Hospital.

In August 2024, fuelled by a deep passion to improve oral health awareness among Malawians — especially those in rural and underserved communities — I created a small Facebook page dedicated to sharing simple, accessible oral health education:

My only goal was to help people understand their mouths, prevent disease, and make healthier choices.

What began as a few short videos has grown beyond anything I ever imagined.

Today, the page has 48,000 followers, and the engagement is overwhelming. Everywhere I go, ordinary Malawians — from villages, markets, hospitals, churches and bus depots — recognize me and express gratitude for the knowledge they have gained. Many tell me, “This is your calling from God,” others tell me that the videos have helped them prevent pain, avoid unnecessary tooth extractions, and seek timely dental care.

These moments remind me why I started: to make oral health knowledge accessible, free, and understandable to every person, whether educated or not.

The impact has been far beyond what I expected. There is now a clear increase in public awareness across Malawi. Here is an example of the type of short video I produce:

People tell me they are learning things they had never heard in their lives — from the dangers of self-extraction, to how to brush properly, to the truth about dental myths that have been passed down for generations.

One of my videos reached over 300,000 views, spreading across Malawi like wildfire. Although it was later accidentally deleted, it remains one of the most powerful reminders of the hunger Malawians have for oral health education.

I do all of this without any financial gain. My reward is seeing the change, hearing the testimonies, and knowing that I am contributing to a healthier nation. Helping people brings me joy. Their transformation motivates me.

Because many followers encouraged me to expand my reach, I also started a YouTube channel to reach a wider audience. It is in its infancy, but will carry the same mission: to spread knowledge, save smiles, and inspire healthier lives.

I was honoured recently to be invited by Linda Dembo, CEO of the Malawi-Scotland Partnership (MaSP), to present at the MaSP Annual General Meeting on 4th December 2025 about the impact of my oral health education platform, ‘Clean Teeth, Happy Life’. You can read my reflection here on LinkedIn.

What started as a passion has grown into a national movement. I am grateful, humbled, and inspired to continue. My dream is that one day, Malawi will be a nation where everyone understands the importance of oral health — and no one loses their teeth due to preventable diseases. This ambition maps well to the ‘Oral health for all’ strap line of The MalDent Project …

I will keep working toward that dream, one video at a time.

In a previous blog post, Lisa Taylor and colleagues described the fieldwork undertaken in 2023 to complete Malawi’s first National Child Oral Health Survey.

Following analysis, the data were presented at a multi-sectoral workshop held in Mponela in May 2024.

Subsequently, a task force was established to develop a Child Oral Health Improvement Programme for Malawi, and that work is still underway.

The survey was written up and submitted for peer-review to the journal Community Dental Health. The manuscript was accepted in October 2024. It has been a lengthy production process but the paper has now finally been published:

The paper is available online here.

Acknowledgements

Grateful thanks are due to Scottish Government International Development and the Borrow Foundation which made this work possible.

Regular readers will be familiar with the construction work undertaken earlier this year by the charity AMECA to establish a two-surgery dental clinic at Chilomoni Health Centre as part of the overall renovation of the healthcare complex. One of the strategic reasons for establishing a high quality dental clinic at health centre level was to provide a model primary care dental facility that could act as an exemplar for replication elsewhere in Malawi. Now that Malawi is graduating its own home-trained dentists, the requirement to provide functional clinics where they can work is a significant priority.

Two good quality dental chairs were available for the new clinic, but there was a long list of additional equipment that was still required to render the new dental clinic fully functional. Initially, AMECA and The MalDent Project launched an on-line appeal, which raised a small sum, but the major breakthrough came with a grant application to the Swiss organisation Fondation Eagle, which provided a grant of £21,900 to purchase the equipment that was required.

In May this year, Peter Chimimba and I travelled to Johannesburg to meet with the team at Henry Schein South Africa. We discussed the equipment requirements for the Chilomoni clinic, and also had valuable discussions relating to the dental chair requirements for the new Dental School building at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS). Andre Wessells, Team Leader at Henry Schein South Africa, was present for those discussions and has subsequently been an exceptionally efficient and valuable contact for both projects, as this post will attest.

The order for the dental equipment at Chilomoni Health Centre was placed by AMECA, the items shipped to Malawi, and installation was scheduled for the week beginning Monday 1st December. We were delighted that Andre would visit us to personally undertake the equipment installation, and he duly arrived on Sunday 30th November. He was able to stay in a guest room at the complex where both I and Ruthie Markus, CEO of AMECA, rent our apartments.

First stop: KUHeS – Dental School construction site

Although the primary purpose of Andre’s visit to Malawi was to install the equipment at Chilomoni Health Centre, in discussion with the architects (JMP) for the new Dental School building at KUHeS we arranged for him to visit the site on his first day and meet with Lloyd Ndau, the Building Services Engineer sub-contracted locally to the project.

We are experiencing rains every day now and the skies were looking threatening as we headed towards the building, but the weather stayed dry for our walk around the site.

Once inside the structure, Andre and Lloyd entered into detailed discussions about the installation of the services for the 26 dental chairs on the clinical floor. The discussions were timely, including issues such as the order of installation of services and the gradient on drainage pipes.

Andre also walked across the clinical floor with the team and checked the positions of all the service portals that had been cast into the concrete slab, checking carefully with a measuring tape that they mapped to the planned positions of the dental chairs.

This would be the first of two visits that Andre would make to the KUHeS site, as he would return later in the week to meet with the plumber who would be installing the pipework.

Chilomoni Health Centre Dental Clinic: equipment installation

After our visit to KUHeS, attention turned to the main project of the week, the installation of the dental equipment at Chilomoni Health Centre. Malawi Revenue Authority clearance of the goods, and storage after their arrival, had been managed by Combine Cargo, whose truck was due to make the delivery at 1.00pm on Monday 1st December. Exactly on time the truck duly appeared, negotiating the rutted, un-metalled road to Chilomoni Health Centre.

Performing the tight reversing manoeuvre into the health centre required considerable skill on the part of the driver, but it was negotiated without incident. In all respects, the service we received from Combine Cargo was exemplary.

Once parked, there was no shortage of volunteers to help with unloading of the vehicle. Many of those involved were members of Dzuka Chilomoni Community Group (DCCG), a community-driven, non-profit organisation that was established in 2019 by Maliko Paul Chikaonga. It exists to uplift the most vulnerable populations in Chilomoni and surrounding areas through humanitarian support, youth empowerment, environmental protection, and community development. Thanks to the strong and meaningful relationship that has been built between Ruthie Markus of AMECA and DCCG, partnership working at this grass-roots level can achieve great things. Furthermore, a Health Centre Management Committee (HCMC) strengthens collaboration between the health facility and the community it serves.

Maliko led the charge with unloading the truck:

There were no mechanical aids to help with the unloading, so it was heavy work:

Once the equipment had been offloaded, the volunteers and staff carried the items to the dental clinic:

On arrival at the clinic, there was much unpacking to do. Here, Maliko is removing the suction motor from its container under the watchful eye of Andre:

The beautiful new Cattani compressor had been bolted to a pallet for safe transportation – this had been the heavy box coming off the truck!

Once the initial unpacking of the large items was complete, work began to arrange them in the appropriate rooms and commence installation. A significant amount of equipment had been purchased for the Decontamination Room, which had been purpose-designed as part of the construction work earlier in the year. Cleaning and sterilisation of dental instruments is a critical part of safe clinical practice and, as you will see as this post unfolds, the Decontamination Room will become a central feature of the entire health centre.

Much of the equipment was made in Italy and supplied with European plugs. In due course, we purchased and fitted UK style plugs to match the sockets that had been installed during the construction of the building.

Thorough cleaning of medical, surgical and dental instruments after use is a key element of the decontamination cycle. Here, Andre is setting up the ultrasonic bath which will form part of the cleaning process:

A further innovation for the dental clinic at Chilomoni Health Centre is the availability of a mobile digital X-ray unit, which was assembled by Andre with help from Maliko and his team of volunteers.

The assembled unit, together with the laptop computer that has been configured with the appropriate software, will bring dental imaging to Chilomoni Health Centre for the first time.

On Day 2 of the installation process, the main challenge was to identify the most appropriate way of installing the services that would connect the compressor and suction motor to the two dental chairs. Mr Jan Sonke, the architect and engineer who had overseen the Chilomoni Health Centre refurbishment, together with Chikondi Chawinga, the technician who had assisted with putting the chairs in place earlier in the year, were part of the discussions which identified the best way forward.

After identifying the connectors and tubing required …

… we headed into Blantyre and visited an amazing store called Toppers, which was stocked with every conceivable item of hardware you can imagine.

Andre explained our needs and we left with all the items required:

One of the items on the shopping list was piping which would house the services travelling along the back wall of the dental clinic. As we needed long runs there was a reluctance to cut the pipes we purchased into smaller sections for transportation. Traffic regulations in Malawi permit a 1.5 metre overhang at the front and back of a vehicle, so we were able to lash the pipes to the roof bar on the passenger side of the Prado and transport them safely back to Chilomoni Health Centre.

Once back at the health centre, Chikondi very efficiently cut and assembled the piping with appropriate connectors to the architecture required. In due course the pipes and connectors were glued together.

The final configuration of the exterior pipework containing the relevant components was very neat …

… linking the two dental chairs to the suction motor and compressor that were now fully installed in the plant room:

Establishing a full dental treatment service at Chilomoni Health Centre is a step-wise process and we are on a journey. The first step was the construction work led by AMECA to establish the physical infrastructure, which has provided the perfect home for the equipment which we have now been able to purchase, as step 2, with the funding from Fondation Eagle. An important next step is provision of training for those who will use the equipment. On Day 3 of Andre’s visit, he began the process of providing training on use of the equipment in the Decontamination Room. Prince, the dental therapist at Chilomoni, was a recipient of the training, but we also invited two nurses from Maternity, Mary and Hannah, for reasons which will become clear soon.

The autoclave and ultrasonic bath can only be operated using distilled water. One of the items of equipment we had purchased and which Andre had installed was a water distiller. Andre explained the operation of the distiller, before all had a practice opportunity.

It is important that the reservoir in which the water is heated is cleaned regularly and de-scaled, using citric acid, a process explained by Andre.

You will be wondering why Mary and Hannah from Maternity had been invited to the training. The reason is that Henry Schein UK had previously donated another autoclave for use at Chilomoni Health Centre. I had collected it from the depot at Gillingham in Kent, driven it back to Scotland and then arranged for it to be sent to Malawi by shipping container through the BananaBox Trust. This second autoclave had arrived in Malawi recently and we had agreed that it should be used by the Maternity Unit. It had been placed in the laundry room next to the Maternity ward and Andre instructed Mary and Hannah in its operation …

… following which they both practised the procedure.

In discussion, Andre suggested that the maternity autoclave would be much better sited in the Decontamination Room at the dental clinic, an observation with which we all agreed immediately. The distiller would then be co-located with both autoclaves, each of which require distilled water for operation. In effect, the Decontamination Room could function as a Central Sterile Services Department (CSSD) for the health centre, including for instruments used in the Out Patient Department.

In a subsequent meeting on 11th December at Chilomoni with Dr Gift Kawalazira, the District Health Officer, and members of his team …

… this recommendation was accepted and both autoclaves are now installed side by side in the Decontamination Room:

This panoramic photograph shows how all the components together provide a small CSSD for the entire site:

As part of his training, Andre spent time with Prince to take him through a full decontamination cycle with a set of dental instruments.

The value of the ultrasonic bath was evident from the colour of the cleaning solution after use.

One of the challenges for healthcare generally in Malawi is the cost of consumable materials. As part of the consignment of goods from Henry Schein South Africa, a large stock of ultrasonic cleaning solution and sterilisation packing material was generously provided, which will allow a consistent and reliable supply for many months to come.

Standard Operating Procedures are being drafted for each item of equipment to ensure that manufacturer’s instructions are followed by trained staff at all times.

It had been a very busy but exceptionally successful three days, during which all the new equipment was installed, and we felt that a celebration was due! It is generally recognised that citizens from South Africa are very skilled at braai (barbecuing). At the end of Day 3 of Andre’s visit, we decided to capitalise on his native skill and hold a celebratory barbecue in the beautiful gardens where we have our apartments. Our landlord, Giorgio Losacco, joined us together with our friends Sue Cabon and Moses. Just as the braai-ing was coming to an end, a strong wind blew up and we rushed everything inside before a fierce storm arrived. The food was tremendous and the storm (and power cut!) added to the general excitement!

As mentioned previously, we arranged for Andre to have a further visit to the KUHeS construction site so that he could hold a detailed face-to-face discussion with the plumber who would be installing the pipework for the dental chairs. It is a complex procedure and we hope that the combination of the earlier walk round with Lloyd and this follow-up meeting with the plumber will ensure a good outcome.

All too soon it was time for Andre to return to Johannesburg:

Andre had been a complete star and achieved all the objectives of the visit. Working in a resource-poor environment like Malawi can be challenging and during the week we faced a number of unexpected obstacles – including rodents and scorpions! With experience, skill and amazingly good humour Andre dispatched every challenge, usually culminating in what became his catchphrase “It’s gonna be great” – and it was! In a recent post on LinkedIn, Stan Bergman, Chairman of the Board and CEO at Henry Schein, talked about ‘Team Schein’ spirit and sense of purpose – Andre exuded that spirit in bucket-loads.

Next steps

I wrote earlier of the journey we are on with Chilomoni Health Centre Dental Clinic. The facility is now set up and equipped to a high standard that will allow a dentist to perform the full range of clinical procedures for which he or she is trained, including restorative dentistry. The costs of running such a facility and maintaining a regular supply of consumables require careful consideration and a public / private funding model is being explored.

A case has been written and submitted to the District Health Officer to support the appointment of a dentist, who can work with a dental therapist in this two clinic facility. There are fantastic opportunities for interaction with the local community, already exemplified by the activities of Anna Smith that have been reported in an earlier post and which would be amplified by Beehive Centre for Social Enterprise and the Dzuka Chilomoni Community Group. Furthermore, Chilomoni is readily accessible from KUHeS and could be used as an outreach teaching facility, allowing senior BDS students to experience dentistry within the community. The availability of a dentist on-site will also provide an opportunity for inter-professional learning and patient management with staff from Maternity and the Out Patient Department, both of which encounter many patients with oral and dental problems.

In summary, the Chilomoni Dental Clinic can function as an oral health node within the health centre and community, providing both preventive and curative care

Malawi now has its own home-trained dentists

Chilomoni Dental Clinic would provide an excellent working environment for one of them!

Acknowledgements

The journey to this stage has been made possible by the engagement and generosity of many partners and organisations. Particular thanks are due to:

• The Board of AMECA, for the insight and courage of the CEO and Directors to invest in the capital works required to establish a state-of-the art two surgery dental clinic at Chilomoni Health Centre.
• Fondation Eagle for the generous grant that was awarded to fund the equipment needs of the dental facility.
• Leigh Spamer, Andre Wessells and Robin Petersen at Henry Schein South Africa for their willing advice, support and provision of a free installation service for the equipment purchased.
• College of General Dentistry Scotland for a donation towards purchase of hand instruments for the dental clinic.
• Those who contributed to the online appeal earlier in the year.
• Dr Peter Chimimba, for his tireless interest in the project and wise counsel.