The University of Malawi created the College of Medicine (CoM) as one of its constituent colleges in 1991. COM was then delinked from the University of Malawi in 2020 and was established into a new University, Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (Kuhes). Kuhes has research as one of its responsibilities. The Malaria Alert Centre (MAC) was established in 2001 by the Gates Malaria Partnership as a unit of Kuhes dedicated primarily to malaria research. Since its inception, MAC, now MAC-CDAC has made major strides in contributing to the significant reduction of disease burden through operational and medical research expertise and training. The output has informed policy formulation and the development of effective preventative health programs by the Ministry of Health (MoH).

MAC-Communicable Diseases Action Centre (MAC-CDAC) is a research unit in the Kamuzu University of Health Sciences that works with Ministry of health, local and international health agencies to address priority health problems such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, neglected tropical diseases and other communicable diseases. Focusing on operational and evidence synthesis research, capacity building and training, health care systems strengthening, disease surveillance, and monitoring and impact evaluation, MAC contributes to evidence based policy formulation and health programs implementation in Malawi and the SADC region.