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Antimicrobial Stewardship Implementation in Malawi: Findings From the 2023 National Program Audit

June 13, 2025
Antimicrobial resistance is a significant global health challenge, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. In Malawi, frequent stockouts of essential medicines and the widespread dispensing of antibiotics without prescriptions have exacerbated the AMR burden, highlighting the urgent need for robust antimicrobial stewardship interventions. A study led by researchers at UNC...

From Undergraduate COVID Volunteer to Future Global Physician

June 4, 2025
Claire Pedersen was a sophomore at UNC-Chapel Hill when the COVID-19 pandemic upended daily life, forcing students into remote learning with stay-at-home orders. Meanwhile, her mother Susan Pedersen, the Clinical Director of the UNC Clinical Trials Unit (CTU) at the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases was working to...

Anticipated Acceptability of Blended Learning Among Lay Health Care Workers in Malawi

May 23, 2025
HIV index case testing (ICT) aims to identify people living with HIV and their contacts, engage them in HIV testing services, and link them to care. Enhancing capacity through centralized face-to-face training is logistically complex and expensive. A decentralized blended learning approach to HCW capacity-building, combining synchronous face-to-face and asynchronous...

Exploring Barriers and Facilitators to Blood Donation in Secondary Schools in Malawi

May 23, 2025
Despite the Malawi Blood Transfusion Service (MBTS) increasing the amount of blood collected since its inception in 2004, Malawi remains with a 27% deficit in required blood supplies nationally. Mina Hosseinipour, MD, MPH, and researchers sought to understand the facilitators and barriers to blood donation among secondary school students in...

Evaluation of an Adherence Strategy to Support HIV Antiretroviral Therapy for Pregnancy and Breastfeeding in Malawi

May 23, 2025
In a pilot study, Lauren M. Hill, PhD, and  Benjamin H. Chi, MD, MSc, evaluated a combination adherence support package for HIV antiretroviral therapy, for pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV in Malawi, which included an adapted motivational interviewing-informed counseling approach (Integrated Next Step Counselling, iNSC) and an optional...

Effectiveness of Levonorgestrel Implant and Depot Medroxyprogesterone Acetate Injectable for Women living with HIV on Efavirenz

May 19, 2025
A collaborative study that included the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, UNC Project-Malawi, and the UNC Center For AIDS Research (CFAR), compared the contraceptive effectiveness of a typical-use LNG implant and depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) injectable during efavirenz use. The study included women living with HIV (WLHIV) on...

Public Health Expert Studies Disease, Empowers Next Generation of Researchers

May 7, 2025
Dr. Mina Hosseinipour’s interest in infectious diseases and medicine began when she was a medical resident in Houston, Texas. Many patients were immigrants, and she was treating several for HIV using a new combination of anti-HIV drugs commonly known as HAART. “It made me want to understand why certain diseases...

Building Long-Term Capacity for Global Anti-Microbial Stewardship

May 1, 2025
Anti-microbial resistance (AMR) is one of the greatest global health threats. Countries with limited resources, such as Malawi, are particularly vulnerable to its impact, with resistant infections threatening to undo decades of medical progress.  While antibiotics are a cornerstone of modern medicine, less than 2% of the 50,000 medical laboratories...

Breast Cancer Treatment Patterns and Guidelines, Concordant Treatment Among Malawian Women

April 23, 2025
Dr. Jennifer Morgan, under the mentorship of Dr. Katie Reeder Hayes, Associate Professor of Oncology and Dr. Tamiwe Tomoka, UNC Project-Malawi Cancer Program Co-Director, describes breast cancer treatment patterns by stage and curative-intent guideline-concordant treatment (GCT) receipt among Malawian women in BMC Women’s Health. A prospective cohort of breast cancer patients was enrolled...

Malawi to North Carolina: A Medical Student’s Exchange

April 4, 2025
Charles Junior Mwansambo completed six years of training in Malawi, including one year of pre-med, before he began the year-long application process that would bring him to UNC Hospitals for a medical student exchange. Currently, he’s wrapping up a two-month program with the UNC School of Medicine and says he’s...

Malawi Cancer Program Develops Diagnostic Breakthrough

February 21, 2025
In the U.S., cancer diagnosis often involves costly biopsies and tests. In the south African country of Malawi, where the average annual income is around $300, patients can rarely afford such procedures — yet accurate diagnoses remain essential. To help, staff of the long-standing UNC Project Malawi Cancer Program are...

Institute, Gillings School Host 3rd Annual Global Health Scholars Symposium

February 17, 2025
(Following is a look back at the 3rd Annual Global Health Scholars Symposium. Links to recordings are provided throughout.)   Myron Cohen, MD, director of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases welcomed faculty, students and fellows to the 3rd Annual Global Health Scholars Symposium Friday, Feb. 14, recognizing...

Global Palliative Care: Assessment and Evidence Building

January 11, 2025
Palliative care improves the quality of life for patients (adults and children) with life-threatening illness. It prevents and relieves suffering through the early identification and correct assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, whether physical, psychosocial or spiritual. Early delivery of palliative care can also reduce unnecessary hospital admissions...

RuSH Clinic: Revolutionizing Reproductive and Sexual Health Care in Lilongwe, Malawi

November 21, 2024
It’s a sweltering November morning, and the Bwaila Hospital complex is abuzz with activity. Amidst the bustle, a newly constructed building stands out – the Reproductive and Sexual Health (RuSH) Clinic, a beacon of hope for reproductive and sexual healthcare. As the clinic opens its doors at 8 a.m., clients...

M-CORP Fellow Looks For Genetic Markers Associated With Cervical Cancer in Malawi Population

November 5, 2024
Cervical cancer is a preventable disease, yet one of the most common causes of death among women globally, despite screening measures proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO). In Malawi, efforts have focused on scaling up cervical cancer screening programs, as well as vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV). Still,...

Undergraduate Student Evaluates HIV Programming in Malawi for Senior Thesis

October 1, 2024
Michaela Tse is a Senior at UNC-Chapel Hill majoring in Global Studies and minoring in both Business and Japanese. This past summer, she spent eight weeks in Malawi to do research for her senior thesis, mentored by Professor Irving Hoffman, PA, MPH, UNC Project Malawi’s International Director. The opportunity came...

Painschab Receives Five-Year NIH Director’s Pioneer Award

September 30, 2024
In Sub-Saharan Africa, deaths occur in 5-10% of people living with HIV during the first year after initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART), and the causes for these early deaths are not clear. Matthew Painschab, MD, member of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, and an assistant professor of hematology,...

Chinula Awarded the ACTG’s Constance B. Wofsy Award

June 26, 2024
Lameck Chinula, MD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, was awarded the Constance B. Wofsy Award at the recent Advancing Clinical Therapeutics Globally (ACTG) Network Meeting, recognizing his contributions to women’s health. “Dr. Chinula is a wonderful and charismatic person and leader, with an upstanding character who has...

A New Partnership With UNC Project Malawi Will Focus On Cardiovascular Health

May 29, 2024
The Malawi Government has a strong commitment to caring for its citizens, often sending patients abroad, to countries such as India, for cardiac procedures that aren’t available at home. But these opportunities are limited, compared to the needs of the country’s population of 21 million, and follow a process much...

NICHD Grant Award Enables Researchers To Address Reasons For Vertical Transmission of HIV in Malawi As the Country Pursues Elimination Goals: Integrated Educational Cores Represent the Best of Capacity Building with Malawian Health Leaders

August 15, 2023
Led by Mina Hosseinipour, MD, MPH, the NIH’s National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), has funded the project “Preventing Infant Infections with Implementation Science in Malawi.” (PRI3SM). The program, in partnership with the Republic of Malawi’s Ministry of Health, comprises three studies to address gaps in prevention services,...