Provost, Rice 360° dedicate Malawian hospital ward

More than 100 people, including several from Rice, gathered June 29 at Malawi’s largest hospital for a joyful dedication ceremony of a new neonatal ward that was built through a 2013 Rice fundraising campaign.

The spacious new addition to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital’s Gogo Chatinkha maternity wing was made possible by a fundraising effort by Rice 360°: Institute for Global Health. Rice 360° co-directors Rebecca Richards-Kortum and Maria Oden — who kicked off the fund drive with a $100,000 donation of their own — were on hand when Rice Provost Marie Lynn Miranda officially dedicated the ward.

The new ward, which more than doubles the space available for newborns and their mothers, is part of a broad effort in Malawi that was begun with the founding of Rice 360° a decade ago. Student-created technologies from Rice 360° are saving the lives of newborns every day at Chatinkha and 27 other Malawian hospitals, and the Chatinkha ward will serve as an innovation hub where Rice 360° students and staff can work alongside doctors and nurses to create more life-saving technologies. Enhancing research, international engagement and cultural understanding are among Rice’s strategic initiatives for the new century. (Video by Brandon Martin)