Malawi health worker is named Strathclyder of the Year

A Scots woman who has improved the health and lives of hundreds of women and children in Malawi has been honoured by the University.

Dr Tracy Morse has been named Strathclyder of the Year for her outstanding work as Project Manger of the University's Scotland Chikwawa Health Initiative, a scheme funded by the Scottish Government to improve maternal health and drive down infant mortality rates in four villages in Southern Malawi.

Poverty has led to widescale health problems in the country, with around four in 10 children dying before they reach the age of five, and one in six mothers dying in childbirth. Of the lost children, large numbers die of malaria or diarrhoea, both of which are directly addressed by the work of Dr Morse and colleagues.

Dr Morse, who is originally from the Inverurie area of Aberdeenshire, said: "It was a total surprise to win the award, but a very nice one. It has also been a great opportunity to come back to Scotland to visit colleagues, family and friends.

"We try hard to work with our colleagues in Malawi and Scotland to ensure long standing health improvements within the programme, and to have that recognised is great. The award really goes to all those involved and shows that in today's society, we are finally recognising the need for preventative health and environmental health in addressing mortality and morbidity."

The Chikwawa Initiative involves the re-building and re-equipping of rural clinics, re-training of traditional birthing attendants, health staff and volunteers, provision of mosquito nets, improvements to water supplies and sanitation, and the provision of bicycle ambulances to improve health access.

When sudden floods hit Chikwawa in February this year, sweeping away more than half of the houses in the area and leaving thousands destitute, Dr Morse was first on the scene. Within two days, she had filled and dispatched four lorries filled with medicines, food, mosquito nets, building materials and water purification tablets, saving many lives.

Dr Peter West, Secretary to the University and Chairman of the Scotland-Malawi Partnership, presented Dr Morse with her award. He said: "The new partnership between Scotland and Malawi has grown directly out of the Strathclyde Malawi Millennium Project. It would never have developed as it has without the huge personal contribution of Dr Tracy Morse, and it is entirely fitting that she should be our Strathclyder of the Year."

As well as managing the Initiative, Dr Morse is also the Malawi-based coordinator of all the activities of the University's Malawi Millennium Project. This involves organizing and delivering Strathclyde's support to orphanages and Malawi Polytechnic, overseeing the building of a house for the Chief Nurse at Chikwawa Hospital, and coordinating the increasing number of visits to the country by Strathclyde students.

She is a double-graduate of the University of Strathclyde, with a first class honours degree in Environmental Health and a PhD for her research on Cryptosporidiosis. She first visited Malawi on a research trip in 2000, and has since built her life in the country with her husband and two small children.

The Strathclyder of the Year Cup is an annual award made to a member of University staff who has made an outstanding contribution to society.