EKWENDENI COLLEGE OF HEALTH SCIENCES
Ekwendeni College of Health Sciences was established in 1946 as part of Ekwendeni Mission Hospital to train midwives for the three hospitals belonging to the CCAP Synod of Livingstonia. These three hospitals are Embangweni, David Gordon Memorial and Ekwendeni Mission Hospitals.
It was formerly known as Ekwendeni School of Nursing and is located in the north eastern side of Mzimba District in the northern region of Malawi and about 25 km from the city of Mzuzu, just about a kilometer off the M1 road to Karonga and Tanzania at Ekwendeni Trading Centre.
Starting from 1946 the college was training Class III Midwives in a vernacular language and these were more of traditional birth attendants (TBAs), but in 1966 it was recognized by the Nurses and Midwives Council of Malawi as a health training institution and started training Class II Midwives, an improvement from the traditional birth attendants who were taught in English language.
Later in 1991, the college started training enrolled nurses (ENs) and a recommendation by the Nurses and Midwives Council of Malawi indicated that the school had to either upgrade to a full training school and not operating as part of the hospital or lose its midwifery training. The first Principal from 1983 to 1996 was Sr. Elizabeth Mantell who was previously in 1966-71 a midwifery sister and tutor at Mulanje Mission Hospital.
The first Principal, Sr. Elizabeth Mantell, teaching about delivery to midwifery students.
In 1991, Sr. Carol Finlay was sent by the Church of Scotland to develop the general nursing course at the college and she served as the in-charge of the course from 1991 to 2001. She also served as an interim Principal from 1996 to 1998 during the illness of Sr. Mantell until her death.
Sr. Carol Finlay with the first Enrolled Nurse Midwife students in 1992.
From 1998 to 2004, the college had the first Malawian Principal whose name was Sr. Desiree Mhango. By 2001, there were five full time Malawian Tutors and a number of clinical teachers. Since Sr. Mhango’s time, there have only been Malawian Principals up to the present day. Sr. Desiree Mhango was succeeded as the Principal by Mr. Flemmings Nkhandwe from 2004 to 2013, then the current Principal.
