SCOTLAND’S health partnerships with Zambia and Malawi have “transformed healthcare” in those countries, according to John Swinney.

The First Minister visited the Blantyre-Blantyre research lab in Lusaka which has been supported by Scottish government funding to improve health outcomes in Zambia and Malawi.

He announced £125,000 for charity Kids Operating Room to support adapting Nasa technology to generate oxygen in low-resourced health settings during his visit.

Announcing a further £4m to tackle conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and sickle cell disease ahead of his visit to Malawi, he said: “Scotland has a strong history of supporting health systems in our partner countries.

“These partnerships have transformed healthcare in many ways, such as launching Malawi’s first dental school and supporting a programme which has trained psychiatrists, established the first dedicated A&E centre, and supported on cancer.”

Welcoming the support, Kids Operating Room’s chief medical officer Dr Maija Cheung said: “Oxygen is a vital medicine, yet in many low-resource settings it is unreliable or unavailable – and that makes surgery far more dangerous for children. 

“That’s why this project is so important.”