CY
< News

Leadership in Malawi: The Malawi-Wales Antimicrobial Pharmacy Partnership

Health
Pharmaceutical Society of Malawi (PHASOM)

William Mpute, the president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Malawi (PHASOM) has recently coordinated the delivery of leadership and management training to thirty three health care professionals throughout Malawi. William, and colleagues Charlotte Makanga and Ceri Phillips from the Malawi-Wales Antimicrobial Pharmacy Partnership, participated in Hub Cymru Africa’s year-long Advanced Mentoring Programme, and a small grant was used to fulfil this identified need for greater management capacity in the health system.

William said: 

“The training enabled participants to develop skills which apply both to their current roles but also transferable skills which they can use throughout their professional lives.”

Pharmacists participated from locations throughout Malawi, based in community pharmacies, hospitals and health centres and with a variety of roles in logistics, supply chain, dispensing, and pharmacy management. Participants highlighted what they had gained from developing skills in leadership, including conflict resolution, coaching, delegation, emotional bank account, and time management: 

“This was one of the most important courses that I’ve attended’ and ‘the training was quite an eye opener.”

Participants had applied these skills in various ways in their roles, for example, a Lead Pharmacist said that applying the evidence-based decision-making model had been effective in stock management, and Pharmacy Managers commented on being able to build more trust in teams, more effective conflict resolution, and having improved working relationships with colleagues. 

The Malawi-Wales Antimicrobial Pharmacy Partnership was co-created with the aim of equipping lead pharmacists and pharmacy technicians with the knowledge and skills to facilitate anti-microbial stewardship (AMS) within their healthcare facilities, in line with the Malawian Government strategies. Grant funding through Global Health Partnershps (formerly THET) Commonwealth Partnerships for Antimicrobial Stewardship Scheme, starting in 2023, enabled achievement of goals including working across seven hospitals, using the Global Point Prevalence Survey to understand and monitor the use of antimicrobials, training of 420 health care professionals (beating a target of 300) using a “Train the Trainer” model, producing an AMS toolkit relevant to the context in Malawi, and the formation of AMS action plans.

The governance of the partnership is highly successful in recognising and promoting equality of power and decision making between partners, and taking an anti-racist approach.he Advanced Mentoring Programme focused on governance, capacity and sustainability of the partnership, with plans to formalise the structure to enable the partnership to build on the success of their current work and continue to work towards these important goals in Malawi and Wales.

Hub Cymru Africa offers one to one Enhanced Development Support to work with Wales Africa partnerships on identified goals over a 3-6 month period. We also offer one-to-one advice and development support at any time to work through issues in any area of your organisation and partnership.

Get Support in your health partnership from Hub Cymru Africa

Other Articles

View all
News

Saffron’s Story

Fair TradeVolunteering View article
News, Press Releases

Wales and Africa Community celebrate three years of global solidarity

Arts and CultureDiasporaDiversity and InclusionFair TradeHealthHuman RightsSustainable Livelihoods View article
BAFTS Logo
News

BAFTs and the Anti-Racism Charter: A Case Study

Anti-RacismFair Trade View article