Dr. Grace Mwenye

Dr. Grace Mwenye is an obstetrician-gynaecologist at Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) in Lilongwe — Malawi's capital city and the seat of the country's central government referral hospital serving the populous Central Region. With 14 years of specialist experience, Dr. Mwenye manages one of the highest-volume obstetric caseloads in Malawi, at a hospital where the labour ward receives thousands of deliveries annually and where obstetric emergencies are a daily clinical reality. Malawi's maternal mortality ratio remains one of the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Dr. Mwenye's work at KCH is directed fundamentally at changing this statistic — through excellent clinical management of obstetric emergencies, skilled antenatal care for high-risk pregnancies, and the training of midwives and obstetric clinical officers who deliver the majority of care at lower levels of the health system. She has developed particular expertise in managing obstetric complications in HIV-positive women, who represent a significant proportion of KCH's antenatal population and require integrated PMTCT and obstetric care. She is also one of the advocates for obstetric fistula repair services in Malawi, assessing patients with this condition and referring them to fistula repair programmes. Beyond obstetrics, she provides comprehensive gynaecological care including cervical cancer screening — a priority in Malawi where cervical cancer is the leading cancer killer of women.

Dr. Mwenye completed her MBChB at the Kamuzu University of Health Sciences in Blantyre. She undertook her specialist residency in obstetrics and gynaecology at KCH and QECH under the Kamuzu University's postgraduate programme, earning her MMed (Obstetrics & Gynaecology). She holds a Certificate in HIV in Pregnancy from the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society and has ALSO (Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics) instructor certification, enabling her to train others in emergency obstetric management. She has attended FIGO-accredited workshops in gynaecological oncology and has participated in obstetric fistula repair training through the United Nations Population Fund's global fistula programme.

Dr. Mwenye's clinical expertise spans the complete range of obstetric and gynaecological care. In obstetrics, she is highly skilled in emergency and elective caesarean section, operative vaginal delivery, and management of all major obstetric emergencies including post-partum haemorrhage, eclampsia, cord prolapse, and shoulder dystocia. Her PMTCT expertise encompasses antiretroviral initiation in pregnancy, intrapartum management of HIV-positive women, and neonatal prophylaxis to prevent vertical transmission. In gynaecology, she performs colposcopy and cervical biopsy for precancerous cervical lesion management, manual vacuum aspiration, ectopic pregnancy management, and intrauterine device insertion. She carries out obstetric fistula assessments and coordinates surgical repair referrals.

Dr. Mwenye contributed to a UNFPA-supported study on the prevalence and causes of obstetric fistula in Malawi's Central Region and to a quality improvement audit of caesarean section outcomes at Kamuzu Central Hospital. She has co-authored articles in the Malawi Medical Journal and the African Journal of Reproductive Health on maternal mortality reduction strategies and on HIV in pregnancy management in Malawi's public hospital system. She has presented at SASOG and SOGAM annual conferences.

Dr. Mwenye consults in English and Chichewa and provides care for international patients in Lilongwe including embassy staff, humanitarian workers, and members of the Malawian diaspora in the United Kingdom or the United States returning home. She provides antenatal care, gynaecological consultations, cervical cancer screening, and obstetric emergency management. For pregnancies or gynaecological conditions requiring specialist investigation or treatment beyond Malawi's capacity — such as maternal-foetal medicine, IVF, or oncological gynaecology — she facilitates referrals to South Africa and provides comprehensive medical documentation.

Dr. Mwenye was recognised by the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Malawi for her leadership in safe motherhood advocacy and for her contributions to PMTCT programme excellence at Kamuzu Central Hospital. She received a commendation from UNFPA Malawi for her role in the obstetric fistula programme and was selected as an ALSO instructor by the African Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecology to train healthcare providers across Malawi's district hospitals.