Who we are
This portal is run by DMSU, the Data Management Support Unit of the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Research Programme (MLW). We are responsible for the information described in this policy.
DMSU · Data Management Support Unit, Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Research ProgrammeQueen Elizabeth Central Hospital Campus, Chipatala Avenue
P.O. Box 30096, Chichiri, Blantyre 3, Malawi
Email sdsm@mlw.mw · Phone +265 1 874 628
What this policy covers
This policy covers the public pages of the DMSU portal. The systems the portal links to — the DMSU helpdesk, the project portal, the data repository and the DMSU systems behind sign-in — are run separately and may have their own notices.
Research data held in DMSU systems is not covered here. It is handled under each study's protocol, ethics approval and participant consent.
Information we collect
When you browse
You do not need an account to use the public pages. The portal does not use advertising or analytics trackers and does not set its own cookies. Our web server keeps standard technical logs — your IP address, the date and time, the page you requested and your browser type — which we use to keep the service secure and working.
When you search
Searches of the systems directory, the team directory and the document bank run in your browser. What you type is not sent to us.
When you contact us
If you open a ticket on the DMSU helpdesk, email or phone us, we receive the details you give us — usually your name, email address and the content of your request — and use them to respond and to keep a record of the request.
Staff information on this site
The team directory lists DMSU staff names, roles, sections, office extensions, work email addresses and photographs so that researchers can reach the right person. Staff who want their details corrected or their photograph removed can ask at sdsm@mlw.mw.
Study figures
The figures on the home page are counts drawn from the DMSU project register, such as the number of studies and datasets. No participant-level or other personal data is published on this portal.
Third-party content and links
The home page includes a Google Maps view showing where to find us. Loading it sends information such as your IP address to Google, which may set its own cookies; this is governed by Google's privacy policy. The fonts used on this site are served from our own server.
The portal links to other sites, including the MLW website, the MLW intranet and Office 365. We are not responsible for how those sites handle your information.
How we use and share information
We use the information described above only to run, secure and improve the portal and to respond to your requests. We do not sell it or use it for marketing. It is available only to the MLW staff who need it for those purposes, and we share it outside MLW only where the law requires us to.
How long we keep it
We keep personal information only for as long as we need it for the purpose it was collected for, and then delete it.
Keeping information secure
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect the information we hold, including restricting access to the people who need it.
Your rights
Under Malawi's Data Protection Act, 2024, you can ask to see the personal information we hold about you, to have it corrected or deleted, or to object to how we use it. Send your request to sdsm@mlw.mw and we will respond as soon as we can.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA), the data protection authority in Malawi.
Changes to this policy
We will update this page when the way we handle information changes, and change the “last updated” date at the top.