Full Member Birth Cohort

Generation Malawi

Generation Malawi is a Birth Cohort based in Malawi.

Population: 2,500
Established: 2022
Setting: Mixed
Unit of observation: Individual

Lilongwe and Karonga · Malawi Cohort site Malawi

About the cohort

Birth cohort - 5,000 family target - 2,500 recruited as of June 2025, Rural and Urban. Recruitment of mothers during first attendance at ANC, recruitment of fathers at home visit. USS dating of pregnancies Detailed data collection on parents including mental health measures and exposures, long-term conditions and biobanking. Blood, hair, saliva, mucosal swabs (mother only) and later, breastmilk.

Read full cohort description

Maternal data capture BL, 3rd Trimester, 16 weeks, 12, 24, 36 months Paternal data capture BL, 16 weeks, 12, 24, 36 months Offspring data collection includes anthropometric/body composition (PEAPOD) and feeding measures, neurodevelopment. Blood, mucosal swabs, hair, saliva. Offspring data capture, delivery, 1, 6 and 16 weeks. 12, 24, and 36 months.

The data from this cohort will help us understand the causes of long-term ill health and, in the future, inform the development of effective interventions to prevent and treat these conditions.

Birth cohort is nested in the Karonga and Lilongwe HDSS, facilitating tracking and enabling availability of other measures in other studies on parents another other relatives (for example preconception measures on multiple physical and mental health conditions and blood samples available).