The MLSFH is conducted by the Population Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania, in collaboration with the College of Medicine at the University of Malawi and Invest in Knowledge (IKI) in Zomba, Malawi
University of Malawi College of Medicine has been the partner institution for the MLSFH since 1998, and it is among the leading medical and public health research and training institutions in SSA LICs. The College was established in 1991 as a constituent college within the University of Malawi (UNIMA), and is the only medical school in Malawi. The COM has gradually grown from a program with an intake of 10–15 students per year and a handful of Malawian faculty, to a program with a medical student intake of on average 60 per year with 110 faculty members, of whom approximately 67% are Malawians. Research at the COM is supported through the US National Institute of Health, the Wellcome Trust, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Health Research Capacity Strengthening Initiative (HRCSI), and many other research sponsors.
Invest In Knowledge (IKI), Malawi as been a collaborator of the MLSFH since 2006, and has extensive experience in the implementation of complex data collection in Malawi. In fact, this NGO was founded by members of the MLSFH research team, and it has become a very strong research organization working with us on NIH funded projects, as well as with several other research teams on projects for the World Bank, DFID, Rand Corporation, and Gates Foundation. IKI represents one of several “success stories” of past capacity building by the MLSFH research team in Malawi.