On May 11th and 12th, Dr. Atul Gawande, USAID Assistant Administrator for Global Health, visited two facilities in Malawi supported by USAID through the MOMENTUM Tiyeni project. Dr Gawande was accompanied by USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator for Global Health, Melissa Jones.

On May 11, Dr. Gawande and Jones visited Bwaila Hospital, a busy referral hospital in Lilongwe offering primary healthcare with a catchment population of over 213,000 and a total referral catchment population of 2,900,000. Dr. Gawande toured the labor ward, high-risk postnatal ward, family health unit, family planning unit, and cholera camp. He also engaged with health providers and clients and learned how the hospital supports primary health care delivery in reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health, and public health emergencies.

Next, Dr. Gawande and company visited Chiwamba Health Center in rural Lilongwe, serving over 90,000 people. At Chiwamba, MOMENTUM Tiyeni is supporting maternal, child, and reproductive health efforts, as well as cholera and COVID-19 response.  The group also visited the Chang’ombe outreach clinic, a village clinic within Chiwamba Health Center’s catchment area. The clinic offered Dr. Gawande and his team insights into how MOMENTUM Tiyeni is supporting primary health care service integration in family planning, antenatal care, childhood illnesses, immunization, nutrition, COVID-19, and other areas.