Africa's potential for scientific research is not yet being realized, for various reasons including a lack of researchers in many fields and insufficient funding. Strengthened research capacity through doctoral training programmes in higher education institutes (HEIs) in Africa, to include collaboration with national, regional and international research institutions, can facilitate self-reliant and sustainable research to support socio-economic development. In 2012, the Royal Society and the UK's Department for International Development (now the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) launched the Africa Capacity Building Initiative (ACBI) Doctoral Training Network which aimed to strengthen research capacity and training across sub-Saharan Africa.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Maternal folate and vitamin B deficiency can lead to serious adverse pregnancy outcomes. There are no nationally representative estimates on folate and vitamin B status among women of reproductive age (WRA) in Malawi.
Objective: We assessed folate and vitamin B status among nonpregnant WRA in Malawi and predicted the risk of folate-sensitive neural tube defects (NTDs) were they to become pregnant.
Front Nutr
January 2022
Selenium deficiency is widespread in the Malawi population. The selenium concentration in maize, the staple food crop of Malawi, can be increased by applying selenium-enriched fertilizers. It is unknown whether this strategy, called agronomic biofortification, is effective at alleviating selenium deficiency.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Reduction of vitamin A deficiency (VAD) in Malawi coincided with introduction of vitamin A-fortified staple foods, alongside continued biannual high-dose vitamin A supplementation (VAS).
Objective: We describe coverage of vitamin A interventions and vitamin A status in the 2015-2016 Malawi Micronutrient Survey.
Methods: Food samples and biospecimens were collected within a representative household survey across 105 clusters.