
The Multilink Consortium
The Multilink Consortium: is a UK National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funded programme administered through LSTM with five partner organisations. It is being conducted in Malawi and Tanzania and seeks to design and test a system that identifies patients suffering from multiple chronic diseases (multimorbidity) when they seek emergency care in sub-Saharan African hospitals. The overall aim is to improve early disease treatment, ensure better follow up (prevent complications, disability and hospital readmission), thus improving health related quality of life and survival rates.
The research is funded till August 2025 by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).


Map of Africa with location of Tanzania and Malawi
Multimorbidity is increasing in sub-Saharan Africa due to high burdens of infectious disease (such as HIV) and rising rates of non-communicable diseases (such as hypertension and diabetes). The prevalence of multimorbidity increases as people live longer and can be worsened by HIV and the drugs required to treat it. Patients frequently delay seeking help until they are severely ill, affecting the poorest people most, meaning that emergency departments are key to healthcare delivery, and might be targeted to identify sufferers and link them to the most appropriate primary care services for ongoing treatment
The team will define how multimorbidity differs from high income countries so that the intervention is locally relevant, and then test it in a clinical trial across both countries. The leadership team includes Charity Salima, a community group leader, ensuring that patients’ voices are driving the research agenda.
News & Events Feed
MULTIMORBIDITY RESEARCH IN SUB SAHARAN AFRICA- REGIONAL RETREAT June 2022
The Multilink team attended the retreat which took place on 22 – 24 June 2022 in Blantyre in Malawi as part of the Liverpool Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme. The retreat looked at the 4 themes which included Illness and disease; Population-level health...
MULTILINK LAUNCH MEETING September 2021
The virtual Multilink launch meeting took place on 29 and 30 September 2021 with over 30 delegates involved. Jamie Rylance said ‘The meeting demonstrated the enthusiasm, determination and careful consideration which will make the project succeed. Many thanks to all of...
LSTM News And Events
