Run for Malawi 2026

THE RACE

Join us in supporting Malawi Children's Initiative for the ninth year by participating in a 5K run or walk. Create a fundraising page or team to help maximize the impact of your participation by funding the training of Malawian healthcare professionals and the purchase of lifesaving medical equipment for the Pediatrics Department at Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) in Malawi's capital city of Lilongwe.

THE CHARITY

Malawi Children’s Initiative (MCI) is an all-volunteer 501c3 non-profit organization established in 2017 by physicians David and Elizabeth Fitzgerald to help build bridges between their friends and colleagues at home in the U.S. and those in Malawi, where they have worked and sometimes lived since 2011. MCI focuses on improving the lives of Malawian children through investment in healthcare, education, and nutritional initiatives and has provided more than $1 million in funding, training, staffing and equipment to benefit Malawian Children since it was founded.

Significant projects include funding an elementary school building; providing dozens of scholarships for healthcare education from elementary school through post-graduate training and medical school;  building, staffing and running a pediatric clinical lab and residency program at Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH); and contributing thousands of hours of nursing care support to the KCH Pediatric Department. MCI also runs the Nutritional Rehab Unit at KCH, a key weapon in the fight against children experiencing severe acute malnutrition.  Most recently, MCI has begun laying the groundwork to construct a new pediatric hospital unit at KCH and train enough new local pediatricians to staff it.

 

THE GOAL

Raise $50,000 to train new pediatricians, purchase medical equipment, and provide healthcare education aimed at saving and improving the lives of Malawian children, especially those facing severe hunger and malnutrition.