Box 1. Malawi’s National Commission for Science and Technology (NCST) and the Health Research Capacity Strengthening Initiative (HRCSI) The NCST was included in the Science and Technology Act (2003) and founded with a Cabinet directive (2008) as a parastatal organization of the Government of Malawi based in Lilongwe. NCST’s purpose is to provide science and technology to the government and to address the existing fragmentation of research efforts and research knowledge across the country in order to accelerate the socioeconomic development of the nation and to improve the quality of life of its people. The NCST Board includes a representative from the Ministry of Health. HRCSI was a 5-year (2008–2013) programme, which aimed to achieve “strengthened health research capacity for the generation of scientific knowledge and improve its use in evidence-based decision making, policy formulation and implementation.” HRCSI was a £10,000,000 programme, jointly, and approximately equally, funded by the Wellcome Trust and the United Kingdom Department for International Development. HRCSI’s goal, as set out on the NCST website (http://www.ncst.mw/?s=hrcsi&x=0&y=0), was to “strengthen national environment for generation of multi-disciplinary research and its uptake to inform policies and interventions…and health of individuals.” Its expected outputs were: • Improved regulation and co-ordination of national health research • Enhanced institutional capacity for high-quality multi-disciplinary health-related research studies • Effective sharing of scientific knowledge • Evidence-based policy and programme formulation