Lilongwe city and Area 25


Lilongwe, declared the capital city of Malawi in 1975, is one of four cities in Malawi. Area 25, where MEIRU conducted population based studies, is a residential area located on latitude -13.95° and longitude 33.76°. The area is a mixed urban population with civil servants, commercial and non-governmental organisation employees as well as students and large populations in casual and informal employment or petty trading, and seeking work. Much of the commercial employment is with tobacco processing factories and industrial estates that are located approximately 5 km from the study area. Area 25 is considered a traditional high density area, it covers land area of about 23 km2 hectares and reached a population of 64,650 in 2008 which rose from 39,132 in 2005. Area 25 is served by one primary government health centre and one mission health centre located within the study area and is approximately 15km from Kamuzu Central Hospital, the main tertiary hospital in Lilongwe, and 20km from Bwaila Hospital, which functions as a secondary referral centre.

MEIRU campus in Lilongwe, Area 3

In Lilongwe, the MEIRU campus, established in 2012, is hosted by the Community Health Sciences Unit (CHSU) in Area 3. CHSU (Director Dr Ben Chilima) is also home to the Public Health Institute of Malawi, the Public Health Laboratories, the Epidemiology Unit, the TB Programme and the HIV/AIDS Unit, within the Preventive Services of the Malawi Ministry of Health

MEIRU has a purpose built office block housing administrative and scientific offices, meeting rooms and IT and Data facilities. The MEIRU laboratories are hosted in the neighbouring CHSU laboratory block, an include a biochemistry laboratory and biorepository, with back-up genset also serving other CHSU laboratory facilities.

MEIRU Area 25 Facilities

At Area 25 Health Centre, MEIRU has purpose built clinic rooms, a field office and stores, hosted by the Ministry of Health, Lilongwe District Health Office.