Helping the Poorest Children to Guard Against COVID-19

For the past 7 years, Nicola Pitchford, a Professor in our School, has been conducting research in Malawi, one of the world’s poorest countries. In addition to her academic work, she also works voluntarily as a Trustee of the Datum Foundation, which supports the most marginalised children in the world. 

In Malawi, provision of healthcare is very limited, especially in remote rural villages. This means these communities are particularly vulnerable to the Covid-19 virus, which could have devastating effects if it takes hold in these communities. In an attempt to protect villagers in Malawi from the COVID-19 virus, Nicola has been working with the Datum Foundation to organise bulk purchase of soap and plastic buckets and institute a regime of regular handwashing in the villages where the Datum Foundation work. They have also reissued some of the UK and Malawi governments advise on personal hygiene. 

Whilst many in the community do not have access to paper tissues, the Datum Foundation are working on alternative solutions to this. Should the schools close, the Datum Foundation are considering a strategy to move the soap and buckets to suitable areas in the community so that villagers can gain access to these important resources. Hopefully, these measures should help to prevent the spread of COVID-19 amongst some of the poorest children in the world.