The LION Trust are proud to present OUR main partners
Kamuzu Central Hospital / Malawi Ministry of Health
Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) is situated in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, and is the tertiary referral hospital for the 7 million people living in the Central Region. The hospital is government owned through the Malawi Ministry of Health and has approximately 1000 beds. At any time there are about 1200 patients admitted. The postgraduate surgery training programme at KCH is currently one of the most successful in the region, with many young Malawian doctors currently training to become surgeons in Lilongwe under the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA).
College of Medicine, Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHES)
Established in 1991, the College of Medicine (COM) was one of four colleges constituting the University of Malawi (UNIMA). COM offers undergraduate programmes in medicine, surgery, pharmacy, physiotherapy, medical laboratory technology, and health management. COM has a student and staff population of 1,156 and 137 respectively. KUHES was established in 2021 through the merging COM and the Kamuzu College of Nursing. It is funded through the Ministry of Education, and runs as an autonomous University.
Haukeland University Hospital
Haukeland University Hospital (HUH) in Bergen, Norway, employs approximately 12.000 people and serves as the local hospital for the city of Bergen, and also as the central hospital of Hordaland county and the regional/tertiary hospital for Western Norway. HUH is the national specialist hospital and resource center for burn injuries, air-pressure injuries, corneal prostheses and the treatment of intracranial tumors. At HUH each year 600,000 patients are treated and more than a thousand health care workers are educated.
HUH has been supporting Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe since 2007 to develop the postgraduate training program in general and orthopaedic surgery. Since then HUH has facilitated donations of equipment worth over US$2 million to KCH and Bwaila hospitals, and has seconded one experienced orthopaedic or general surgeon full time to KCH to ensure the hospital meets the requirements of a teaching hospital and its accreditation as a surgery training site under COSECSA. HUH has also helped start a diploma program for medical engineers under the college of Health Sciences on Zanzibar, and has sponsored three of the medical engineers at Physical Assets Management (PAM) department at KCH to complete this course. In addition, HUH also supplies radiographers to the radiology department and technicians to the pathology laboratory, and regularly sends medical engineers to help service and repair medical equipment at KCH.
HUH has a long track record of fundraising and providing technical advice for hospital infrastructure projects in Africa. The CEO of HUH has generously agreed to use HUH’s own hospital funds to support KCH with technical advice and to lead the fundraising drive to realize the LION project.
CBM
CBM is an international Christian development organization, committed to improving the quality of life of people with disabilities in the poorest communities of the world. CBM has Member Associations raising funds and awareness of disability issues in high-income countries worldwide. CBM began its work in Malawi in the early 1970s, starting with support to Montfort College of the Blind in construction of Schools for the Blind throughout the country in 1971, and in 1976 CBM began supporting Nkhoma Hospital Eye Department. CBM has been heavily involved in the development of the Medical Eye Care Plan of the Government of Malawi 2012-2016, and is presently working together with the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare to develop capacities for mainstreaming disability in central government. In 2011, CBM opened a country office in Lilongwe.
The emphasis throughout CBM's work is on local capacity development. This increases and improves service delivery in the fields of healthcare, education, rehabilitation and livelihood development, while also promoting organizational development in the partner organizations. Since 2011 CBM has seconded a fully qualified orthopaedic surgeon to KCH to support the surgical training programme, thereby contributing to the treatment and prevention of disability in the Central Region.
CBM has signed an MoU with MoH, KCH and HUH to join as a partner to help fundraise for the project and has pledged funding for the construction of the training and research facility at LION.
AO Alliance
The AO Alliance is a nonprofit, development organization dedicated to strengthening care of the injured in low- and middle-income countries. Our mission is to reduce human suffering, disability, and poverty by implementing programs that enhance local fracture-care capacity for sustainable impact.
We are a catalyst in knowledge development and transfer for trauma and orthopedic care in 24 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and 8 countries in Asia. Since 2015, the AO Alliance has trained over 20,000 healthcare workers (HCWs) through 400+ education events, trained 200+ HCWs as faculty, and sponsored 200+ fellowships.
Building on our presence in Malawi since 2016, through the Malawi Country Initiative, we are proud to be a founding investor in the LION hospital in partnership with Medicor Foundation.
Medicor Foundation
Medicor Foundation is an independent and charitable foundation based in Liechtenstein, founded in 1995 thanks to a generous private initiative.
Medicor Foundation focuses on international development, specifically game-changing projects in education, health, and social care. Medicor Foundation contributes to the sustainable improvement of the wellbeing and empowerment of vulnerable and disadvantaged people in countries in Africa, Latin America, and The Caribbean, as well as in Eastern Europe.
Medicor Foundation is currently not considering unsolicited applications for funding.
SIGN Fracture Care International
SIGN Fracture Care International (SIGN) supply intramedullary (IM) nails to hospitals in low- and middle-income countries for the repair of femoral (i.e. thigh bone) and other long bone fractures. SIGN has realised the problem of re-supply of orthopaedic consumables in low-income countries and replaces all used IM nails for free so long as the operations are reported to SIGN with a photo of the post-operative x-ray. Doctors at SIGN give personal feedback to surgeons on any surgery that is out of the ordinary or not optimal, and therefore also serve as an important source of continuous professional development for trauma surgeons in LMICs. SIGN has supplied KCH with IM nails since 2008, and nearly 1,000 people are walking in Malawi today because of SIGN’s support.
SIGN is trying to find the best way to scale up trauma services in LMICs, and is working with selected institutions to develop the idea of trauma short-stay centres. SIGN has pledged increased support to LION to meet the increased demand for nails if the trauma short-stay principle is introduced. In this way the Institute is guaranteed a sustainable supply of IM nails as long as the surgeries are reported regularly via the internet.
500 miles
500 miles is a Scottish charity founded in 2008 to help people with mobility difficulties and to give them a chance to live independent lives. 500 miles supports the development and delivery of prosthetic and orthotic services in Malawi, Zambia and Zanzibar. The organization helps people with impaired mobility of all kinds to get moving, as well and as independently as possible, by helping them to access prostheses and orthoses.
The 500 miles Prosthetic and Orthotic (P&O) Centre in Lilongwe has been situated in the grounds of Kamuzu Central Hospital since 2008. 500 miles built and ran this facility for the Malawi Ministry of Health as part of the government health service. 500 miles has had responsibility for management and funding, and the qualified Malawian staff were to be employed by MoH. The 500 miles Centre was also supported by an exchange programme funded by FK Norway for a few years.
500 miles is partnering with LION and will move the P&O services to more spacious facilities in the new LION rehabilitation centre, continuing their support of these services in LION for a transition period.
Hope and Healing International
Hope and Healing International is committed to bringing hope and medical care to children with disability in Malawi and across the African continent. We are a Canadian Christian international development organization that has been working on the ground in Malawi for more than 30 years, partnering with government agencies, hospitals and clinics in both urban and rural settings. We work to ensure kids with disability have access to the vital medical services and community-based solutions they need to achieve their full potential. Our purpose is to ensure the voices of children with disability are included in the planning of health services, development programs and emergency response efforts.
Our partnership with LION is an exciting step forward for us and for children with disability in Malawi, one we hope will ensure patient-centred clinical services for more kids with disability. We support the training of healthcare professionals and work to ensure that specialized paediatric care is available to meet the needs of this extremely vulnerable population — kids with disability living in poverty.
Click here for more information about Hope and Healing International.