The First Capital Bank (FCB) has donated Five million Malawi Kwacha towards Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS) research dissemination conference which is slated for 24th to 25th November, 2022.
Speaking during a cheque presentation on Friday in Blantyre, KUHeS Acting Director of Students Affairs, Dr. Benjamin Kumwenda who is also the Co-chairperson of the organising committee, said the conference will be held at KUHeS Blantyre Campus under the theme ‘Excellence for life: through multidisciplinary research and innovations’.
Kumwenda indicated that the conference is expected to attract over 500 local and international delegates, as over 200 investigators whose abstracts were successful, are expected to present their researches.
He also mentioned that the conference is so crucial for it will provide a platform where investigators will display their findings which can help the Malawi government to make key health-related decisions based on evidences.
Kumwenda pointed out that researches are key to social-economic development of the country as they help to finding long-lasting solutions to some of the challenges facing the health sector.
The co-chairperson then thanked the First Capital Bank management for the timely support, saying the money will help the organising committee to finalise preparations for the conference which is first of its kind.
“This is very critical and it has come at the right time. As you know, KUHeS has just been instituted last year that means we have so many financial requirements. This will allow us to cover many expenses. We are so thankful to First Capital Bank.
“We would like government to make decisions based on evidence and this is evidence that has been thoroughly investigated and tested by scientific methods. That’s why we are disseminating this information through this conference. This doesn’t just inform policy, it also informs people on how they should change their behaviour based on findings and it also inform clinical practice, thus how should doctors change the way they are treating sickness and disease based on findings,” said Kumwenda.
On his part, FCB’S Head of Marketing and Communications, Twikale Chirwa said the gesture emphasises the good relationship between the school and the bank which he said has existed for over 20 years now.
Chirwa stressed out that health researchers need to be empowered more claiming their findings contributes significantly towards an improved health sector which he said will make Malawi a nation whose healthy citizens can fully participate in developmental activities.
“KUHeS is home of FCB, our relationship goes back more than 20 years. Research and data are key to unlocking breakthrough solutions which our health sector requires. We thought that we needed to donate the money to empower researchers. A health workforce propels the economy and such information is good for the development of Malawi,” said Chirwa.
The event will be presided over by minister of education Agnes NyaLonje whereas Professor Louise Kenny who is the Executive Pro Vice Chancellor of the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at the University of Liverpool, has been announced key speaker.
