Scotland’s First Minister views The MalDent Project at first hand

Historical links between Scotland and Malawi have existed for more than 150 years. In 2005, a Cooperation Agreement was signed between the governments of Scotland and Malawi. Since then, there has been an enduring friendship and partnership between the two countries, with a very large number of respectful people to people interactions, often at small scale, grass roots level. Details of many of these are available from the Scotland Malawi Partnership website. The Scottish Government, via its International Development Unit, has played a critical role through a variety of funding streams which have supported multiple programmes in areas such as health, education and climate justice. The MalDent Project has been a fortunate beneficiary of Scottish Government funding since 2018.

We were, therefore, delighted to hear that Scotland’s First Minister, John Swinney MSP, would be visiting Zambia and Malawi between 14th and 20th October 2025 to celebrate the 20 year landmark since signing of the Cooperation Agreement, and to visit some of the projects that the Scottish Government has supported during that time. Excitement mounted further when we were informed that The MalDent Project would form part of the First Minister’s visit to Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS) on Sunday 19th October. This blog post, written in collaboration with Dr Peter Chimimba who was present on the day, focuses solely on The MalDent Project component of the visit.

The University of Glasgow was represented by Professor Iain McInnes, Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences. This was especially appropriate for The MalDent Project, because it was through a meeting organised by Iain in 2016 at the University of Glasgow that I first met Dr Mwapatsa Mipando, who was then the Principal of the University of Malawi College of Medicine, the predecessor of KUHeS. It was a follow up discussion between Mwapatsa and I over coffee at 8am the next morning that proved the genesis of The MalDent Project – the rest is history. Iain has been heavily involved over many years with collaborative projects at KUHeS, especially the Blantyre Blantyre Project, which has established a state of the art biomedical research laboratory situated next door to the site of the new Dental School building currently under construction.

Until the new Dental School building is complete, the BDS students at KUHeS undertake their clinical training in the Ministry of Health Dental Departments at Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) in Lilongwe and the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) in Blantyre. This was an opportunity for the First Minister to visit the dental facility at QECH:

Once inside the clinical area, discussions ensued which included recounting the challenges, achievements and milestones reached to date:

The First Minister and his hosts then moved to the Main Library building on the KUHeS Campus, where the first cohort of dental graduates was waiting expectantly.

This was a wonderful opportunity for the First Minister to interact with these home-trained young dentists, whose career opportunity had been made possible by the Scottish Government’s support of the BDS degree programme at KUHeS. It was a very joyous exchange.

The phrase coined by Dr Mipando at the very beginning of The MalDent Project was proudly displayed on the backs of the new, Malawi-trained dentists’ T shirts – ‘Locally Relevant, Globally Competent’:

After the discussions, there was opportunity for a group photograph, which celebrates beautifully the impact of the funding provided by the Scottish Government for oral and dental health improvement in Malawi.

During his visit to the KUHeS campus, the First Minister saw the building site where the new Dental School is being constructed, and some suitable computer generated images of the much anticipated finished structure were displayed in the Library:

In a previous blog post, I recounted the story about the model of the building, which had been damaged in transit from the UK, but subsequently repaired by colleagues in the Department of Architecture at MUBAS. The model provided a perfect focus for a discussion with the First Minister about this new facility that has the potential to transform dental education and research at KUHeS and beyond.

This visit by the First Minister provided an opportunity for The MalDent Project team to thank him and the Scottish Government for its generous support. Moving forward, the continuing support through the Scottish Government Strategic Grant to KUHeS will ensure that the BDS degree programme reaches a point of long term independent sustainability. The Strategic Grant is also allowing KUHeS to strengthen its governance and management systems and enhancing the institutional capacity to monitor, evaluate and report on programmes. For The MalDent Project in particular, the work packages supported by the Strategic Grant will strengthen the capacity and inclusivity of dental education at KUHeS to produce highly skilled dental professionals who can improve oral health outcomes in the country.

It is these young dental graduates and the 124 dental students currently enrolled on the BDS programme at KUHeS who now take on the responsibility of advocating for improved oral health in Malawi and increased access to dental care. Some will also support dental education by joining the staff of the Department of Oral Health Sciences. It is a powerful demonstration of investing in education for a better future.

Ackowledgements

All the photographs were supplied by Dr Peter Chimimba, who had received some of them from Joanna Keating, Scottish Government International Development, who is duly gratefully acknowledged.