Improving Adolescent Health and Wellbeing in Malawi
We are working with adolescents, family and community members, health workers, policy makers, and other organizations to design, implement and evaluate approaches to improving adolescent health and wellbeing.
How we work
We are working with adolescents, parents and guardians and other interested parties to develop promising approaches to improve their health and wellbeing using a multi-sectoral approach. The following are our main work strands:
Capacity Strengthening and Training
Economic and Policy Frameworks
Formative Research and Longitudinal Observatory
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, and Adolescents
Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
Inspiring Adolescent Wellbeing
We are a joint research initiative of:
News and Events
Adolescents have a voice if we create a space to listen to them – co-planning a water refilling approach with adolescents and teachers
When a group of learners and teachers came together at a primary school in Mchinji, something powerful happened: young people were given the space to speak and adults truly listened. In this co‑planning meeting, adolescents shared practical ideas to improve how water is refilled at school handwashing stations, offering thoughtful solutions that surprised everyone. Their voices shaped the way forward, showing just how much can change when young people are invited into the conversation and given agency.
World Toilet Day
This World Toilet Day, we’re tackling one of the most overlooked challenges in education: safe, clean, and welcoming toilets for learners. Through the NIHR-GHRG initiative in Malawi, schools are co-creating practical solutions, from vibrant murals and sanitation-themed games to improved facilities and hygiene messaging. These changes go beyond cleanliness, they foster dignity, comfort, and wellbeing, ensuring every learner feels respected and supported.
Join us in making sanitation a priority. Share this message, support local initiatives, and help create environments where every child can learn with dignity. Together, we can turn neglected spaces into places of care and pride.
Our future is at hand, let’s move forward together – learning from what works
As the world observes Global Handwashing Day, the NIHR Global Health Research Group highlights ongoing efforts in Malawi to improve handwashing with soap among adolescents—where less than 1% of observed handwashing opportunities currently include soap use. Using the COM-B behaviour change approach, researchers are co-developing a participatory hand hygiene intervention with students and teachers in rural Mchinji to make handwashing easier, more appealing, and consistent. Through hands-on experiments testing soap types, dispensing methods, and behavioural nudges, the study revealed key preferences and practical challenges. These insights are now guiding a Trial of Improved Practices (TIPs) to create a sustainable, evidence-based solution that empowers young people to make handwashing with soap a lasting habit, truly putting “our future is at hand.”