trip to Malawi

[Jemma Neville]

Dear all,

 

This the new mailing list for clinics and partners in the Clinic Twinning Project. I hope you find it useful.

 

1) Dr Ron Neville, from Westgate Medical Practice in Dundee, and myself have just returned from a visit to Malawi. We were privileged to visit all ten Malawi clinics in the project at least once and found it to be a very worthwhile visit. Healthcare professionals in Malawi had lots of questions about work in Scotland and we did our best to represent each health centre in Scotland. You can see photos on the project website: www.malawiclinics.org

 

2) We were welcomed by our Malawi colleagues, Paul Nkhoma (Project Ambassador), Sylvester Chawala (Malawi Communications Manager) and Pam Wilson (VSO nurse at Zomba College) and also had the opportunity to formalise links with Zomba College of Health Sciences. The Campus Director, Lucy Chidothe, has very kindly agreed to offer her institutional expertise and support in the project when Pam Wilson returns to Scotland. We are very fortunate to have the partnership of the Campus Director because Zomba College educate the future nurses of Malawi and have student placements in our twinned clinics.

 

3) We felt it was important to show respect to the existing national health structures (all of the twinned clinics are Government clinics). We therefore took time to listen to the guidance of both the Zomba and Blantyre District Health Officers. They were very supportive of the longterm, sustainable project ethos and we look forward to working together.

 

4) Internet installation was completed at Limbe and Ndirande clinics using high spec equipment. You can watch video highlights on the project website: www.malawiclinics.org and Malawi Television also featured the event on their news bulletin. The twenty computers donated by Glasgow City Council are due to arrive in Malawi by the end of January. It was very inspiring to help hardworking staff access online journals and, in some cases, send their very first email.

 

5) Scotland has a lot to learn from Malawi. The health education seminars, guardianship model, outreach work and voluntary counselling and testing were just a few of the fascinating innovations that we observed. We plan to document more about the potential for sharing good practice between the two countries.

 

6) The Twinning Project has also scaled up its presence in Scotland. Sam Riddell, Practice Manager at Westgate, and myself represented the project at the Scotland Malawi Partnership AGM last weekend and received positive feedback from lots of interested parties. I have now visited nearly all the Scottish health centres in the project and dates are scheduled with the remaining few.

 

7) We would like to arrange a feedback forum from the Malawi visit. It will also be an opportunity for you to learn from other twin relationships and discuss the future direction of the project. Can you please contact me directly ( jemma....@gmail.com) with your preference for either a weekday, evening or Saturday morning date in January or February? Whitefriars Health Centre in Perth has kindly offered us a central Scotland venue.

 

Have a relaxing festive season,

 

Jemma

[Susan Duncan]

Hi Jemma

 

As discussed I am happy with any date you set up for the meeting.

 

Susan

---

From: scotland_ma...@googlegroups.com [mailto:scotland_ma...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Jemma Neville
Sent: 07 December 2007 11:43
To: scotland_ma...@googlegroups.com
Cc: leo.wi...@scotland-malawipartnership.org; Amiko Hippisley; Ron Neville
Subject: [scotland_malawi_clinics] trip to Malawi

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