The Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programmes’s Maternal and Foetal Health Group on December 8, 2022, engaged its Public Patient Involvement (PPI) team and mapped activities for 2023.

Through the interface, the PPI group shared insights on approaches researchers should take in setting priorities with various stakeholders.
MLW’s Maternal and Foetal Health Group Project Manager Bertha Maseko appealed to various research groups at MLW to consider involving the PPI group whenever the need arises because practice heightens research relevance, acceptance, and value among communities.

“The PPI aims to make research more relevant and useful to patients, carers and the public. By working with researchers, the PPI team will improve research and therefore make a difference in the way health and social care services are provided in the future,” said Maseko.

The Chairperson for the PPI team Edna Umali said such meetings with researchers are relevant not only to researchers but also to communities because the information and knowledge shared from such meetings are diffused to communities thus helping the public to understand health issues and prevent some diseases.

“When a community is well informed about health problems there is limited room for misconceptions. This breaks barriers to research as community members will willingly volunteer to participate in the studies and in the end maternal deaths in Malawi will be reduced,” Umali said.

The Maternal and Foetal Health Groups PPI committee was established in October 2021 and has a membership of 15 drawn across various social strata.