MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND SANITATION
PHIM – PhD SCHOLARSHIP
BACKGROUND
The Ministry of Health and Sanitation through Public Health Institute of Malawi (PHIM) has a long-term collaboration with their Norwegian counterpart, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH). They are currently collaborating in the Building Institutions and Systems Stronger (BIS) programme, which has started a new 4 years period in September 2025.
The overall aim of the BIS- Malawi is to strengthen PHIM. In the coming period, emphasis will be on these three aims: 1) Organisational support 2) Competency building and 3) Surveillance and response chain strengthening PhD scholarship: Surveillance and response to public health threats, such as Cholera in Malawi on the background of a changing climate
SCOPE
Climate change and extreme weather events are associated with increasing occurrence of several medical conditions and public health threats, such as cholera.
PHIM is mandated to provide leadership in disease surveillance, prevention, outbreak response, and research to inform public health policy and practice. Despite this important role, the surveillance system currently faces several challenges, including disjointed data sources that weaken the country’s ability to respond swiftly to epidemics and threaten long-term public heath resilience.
In line with the aims 2 and 3 of the project, BIS will support a candidate for doctoral studies aiming at improving PHIM’s core function of surveillance and response to cholera or other public health threats. This could, for instance be done by evaluating the current surveillance framework to identify strengths and weaknesses, proposing sustainable and scalable solutions that focus on the integration between epidemiological approaches, lab analysis, reporting tools and response mechanisms. The underlying question should be; how can early signals be detected, confirmed and responded to, to curb outbreaks early.
SELECTION CRITERIA
A committee of the academic supervisors and leaders at PHIM will review the applications
REQUIREMENTS
- Master’s Degree in Medicine, Environmental Health, Public Health or similar.
- Employee under the Ministry of Health
- Experience with epidemiology and disease control and knowledge about PHIMs role
- Demonstrated written and oral communication skills in English and Chichewa
- Excellent teamwork skills.
PERIOD OF ASSIGNMENT AND COMPENSATION
The period of assignment is from March 1st 2026 until February 28th 2029. The main supervisor will be from KUHES University and co-supervisors will be from PHIM and NIPH.
A stipend and tuition will be remunerated through the BIS project. In addition, the necessary costs for computer, software, research regulatory costs and publication costs be covered.
METHOD OF APPLICATION
All interested applicants who meet the stipulated requirements should submit their applications accompanied by the updated Curriculum Vitae, a one-page sketch of how the PhD project could be solved, a one-page motivation letter and copies of their Certificates and supporting documents with the names and addresses of three traceable referees not later than 7th February, 2026 to:
The Secretary for Health and Sanitation
Ministry of Health,
P. O. Box 30377,
LILONGWE 3.
Attention: Director of Public Health Institute
Post expires at 11:59pm on Saturday February 7th, 2026