Page 54 - Number 2 2021 Volume 74

42 The Society of Malaŵi Journal

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disease, and accidents of all types. Road traffic accidents are, currently, for
2
example the sixth major cause of death in Malawi, with strokes being the fifth.
This state of affairs led to an impetus for lobbying for the training of
physiotherapists both in and out of Malawi. I was the Head of the Physiotherapy
Department which was, at the time, described as ‘well run’. Nevertheless, the staff
shortages provided us an imperative to lobby the government; this was pioneering
stuff at the time, for a number of reasons: government and civil society in Malawi
at the time tended to view matters of disability as residing in the realm of
‘charitable organisations’. And there were cultural reasons that tended to mitigate
against helping the disabled at times. 3 But the burden of disability was
4
undeniable.
Given the demand for services and the paucity of local staff, we lobbied
for an increased physiotherapy service with more staff, hoping that
physiotherapists trained abroad would train Malawians in Malawi in the Malawi
School of Physiotherapy. The Polio epidemic of the 1970s was an added
5
incentive. The Rotary Club, along with the WHO, Centres for Disease Control,
UNICEF and the Malawi Government, funded mass polio vaccinations. When the
Anglican Bishop Donald Arden and his friend, the surgeon Jan Borgstein, led
6
initiatives to set up the organisation Malawi Against Polio (MAP), and it was
established in 1979, I was there. Initially MAP was envisioned as a mobile

1 Amosun, S, et al. “Undergraduate physiotherapy education in Malawi--the
views of students on disability.” Malawi medical Journal: the Journal of
Medical Association of Malawi vol. 25,2 (2013): 40-4. See also see also
Ndembe, Sydney, n.d ‘The history of the fight against polio in Malawi’ @
http://www.stclements.edu/Articles/History.pdf
2 See World Health Organisation 2018 data ‘Malawi: Road Traffic Accidents’ @
https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/malawi-road-traffic-accidents
3 Groce, N., & McGeown, J. (2013). Witchcraft, Wealth and Disability:
Reinterpretation of a folk belief in contemporary urban Africa (Working Paper
Series: No. 30). Leonard Cheshire Disability and Inclusive Development Centre,
UCL @ https://www.ucl.ac.uk/iehc/research/epidemiologypublic-
health/research/leonard-cheshire-
research/research/publications/documents/workingpapers/wp-30.pdf
4 See, for example Blair E. A training program for disability prevention in
Malawi. World Health Forum 1994; 15: 408 – 411.
5 See Ndembe, Sydney, n.d ‘The history of the fight against polio in Malawi’ @
http://www.stclements.edu/Articles/History.pdf
6 Arden, Jane, 2014 Obituary of Right Reverend Donald Arden @
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/08/the-right-rev-donald-arden-
obituary