Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust COVID-19 Epidemic Preparedness

Year of award: 2020

Grantholders

  • Dr Ben Morton

    Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom

  • Dr Henry Mwandumba

    Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme, Malawi

  • Dr Jennifer Cornick

    University of Liverpool, United Kingdom

  • Dr Peter MacPherson

    Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom

  • Prof Stephen Gordon

    Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom

Project summary

Malawi is at high risk of COVID-19 epidemic spread, the healthcare system is fragile and the population vulnerable to severe disease.

We propose epidemic preparedness activities for COVID-19. These are split into three work packages: diagnostic capacity and genomics surveillance; secondary care; and epidemiology and control.

Strategically, we have designed our activities to develop a platform for Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust (MLW) to rapidly pivot into response mode to support the healthcare system and deliver excellent research for current and future epidemic disease threats.

Our key goals are to provide diagnostic capability in Malawi for the COVID-19 epidemic, and to develop clinical and epidemiological tools to manage epidemic disease in Malawi.