History

Lifeline Malawi(LM) established its first medical outreach in the lakeshore community of Ngodzi, where there were no medical facilities, clean water or even sufficient food.  Ngodzi is a rural community of 40,000 people of approx. 100km southeast of the capital city of Lilongwe.  Although there were other established mission groups in the area, health conditions and medical needs of the local Yao tribes people were desperate, as there were no trained medical personnel and there no access to medicines.

Dr. Brooks initially (1998) worked with a small staff to provide a part-time medical presence in the community.  In September 2001, he opened a new eight room medical clinic on land donated by the community.  Since then, the Ngodzi property has been developed, through donations raised in Canada, the United States, France and the U.K, into a medical complex offering full-time medical and health-related services to Ngodzi and the surrounding communities.  In November 2003, two (2) full time nurses began working in the clinic & living in two (2) newly built homes locate within the complex.  In 2005, with the granting of National Aids Commission funding, Lifeline Malawi became an approved Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) center with the ability to provide anti- retroviral (ARVs) to HIV positive persons.  Thanks to the generous support of Samaritan's Purse, the primary medical clinic was significantly expanded to include space for the HIV/AIDS related programs.

In May 2006, funding was received from the ECLT Foundation which brought Lifeline Malawi into partnership with TECS & CRECOM and the expansion of our services into a second location - the rural districts of Dowa and Kasungu.  This resulted in the construction of another 800 Sq. Meter "Centre of Excellence" at Kasese, which was completed in early 2007.

In 2008, LM entered into partnership with Family Health International for the expansion of our outreach services into the more remote rural villages within the Ngodzi region.  In addition, 2008 brought the expansion of our medical services to include Maternity.  Thanks to generous donations from other individuals and foundations, we acquired funding for two maternity wings that have been built.  The Rosetree Maternity Clinic (Ngodzi) began delivering babies in May 2009.  The AMOR Maternity Clinic (Kasese) began delivering babies in August 2009.

Lifeline Malawi employs over 70 full time staff and 30 contract people at its two clinic sites and the management office in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi.  There are only two Canadian ex-pats, Dr. Brooks the founder and President and Mr. Patrick Laforet, the VP of Malawi, who has been in the field since September 2006.  All of the rest of our staff are Malawians who are dedicated to helping their fellow citizens, particularly in delivering rural based medicine. Lifeline Malawi has offices in both Canada and the US and is looking to expand into the UK shortly.