Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme.

Since its inception in 1995 the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome (MLW) Programme has become an internationally recognised centre for research and research training. Malawi faces a disproportionate burden of serious health problems related to deprivation, a high prevalence of infectious disease and an over-stretched health infrastructure. Many of these health threats are potentially preventable or treatable. Attempts to tackle these threats are severely limited by the absence of a fundamental understand ing of disease process and the lack of diagnostic and interventional tools on which to base a comprehensive public health strategy. The origins, epidemiology and mechanisms of many of the underlying diseases remain unknown. There is an urgent need to identify and better understand the biological events, biomarkers, targets and disease pathways that will lead to the development of affordable diagnostic tools and therapeutic interventions. The MLW Programme therefore aims to: (1) Conduct biomedica l research on tropical health problems in a place where those problems occur; (2) Provide training in research skills for clinical and laboratory scientists both from the host country and abroad; (3) Strengthen the local institution (College of Medicine) in its capacity to conduct research on health problems of local importance.