When explaining about what Medic to Medic does, we find that people are usually struck by the simplicity of the idea. They are well versed to the idea of sponsoring a child or an animal and are pleasantly surprised to find that they can now sponsor health professionals where they are needed the most. However, more often than not, and especially those who have worked abroad, we prepare ourselves to be asked ’...but after you train them up, can’t they just leave and go work abroad?’. The answer is of course, yes they can.

Yet our retention rate is excellent. We have 14 graduated doctors, 3 clinical officers and 1 health manager—all of whom are working in Malawi. So what do we do to help our students stay in Malawi after graduation? Well, we know that the internship period is particularly hard. This is the 18 months after graduation where a doctor or clinical officer must work in a tertiary hospital. Many expenses collide in this period as our students transition to working professionals. They have to pay rent for the first time, buy furniture and

other things for their new homes, and many are asked to support poor relatives now that their salary is much higher than most other members of their family. It’s understandable that many are tempted by the larger salaries on offer in   Zambia or Lesotho     during this time. In order to help our students during this difficult period, we continue to support them by providing an internship allowance. We also link them to a mentor in their future specialty and continue to meet up with them during monitoring visits.

Our graduates tell us that this support really helps them fulfil their desire to “stay and help Malawians”. In fact, four of our doctors are working in district hospitals, which provide most of the health services to people in rural areas, yet the isolation makes it particularly hard to attract doctors. One of our doctors, Charles Mtibo, is one of two doctors for 550,000 people in Machinga district. Another recent graduate, Lawrence Nazimera, has been promoted to district health officer in Neno district, serving 80,000 people. In the UK we have 1 doctor per 365 people. With your support, we can help more graduates stay in Malawi and maintain our excellent score!