Edinburgh doctor joins fight against cervical cancer in Malawi in Africa

Dr David Dorward will be moving his family to Malawi in Africa in April

An Edinburgh doctor is moving his family to Africa to help set up a new cancer clinic.

Dr David Dorward is taking his three young children and his wife, Sonia, to Malawi for two years to help diagnose cases of cervical cancer.

The pathologist currently works in Kirkcaldy in Fife but as a child he spent eight years living in Malawi where his father worked at a doctor.

He will follow his father's footsteps in April.

Dr Dorward will be working in a new clinic set up by the humanitarian organisation Médecins sans Frontières.

He will be one of just four pathologists serving a population of 19 million people in a country which has the highest rate of cervical cancer in the world.

From the age of three Dr Dorward spent years living in Malawi while his father worked for the Church of Scotland in a hospital in Malawi.

David Dorward with his dad John in Malawi

Dr Dorward said: "My job involves looking at tissue under the microscope and diagnosing different types of cancers, informing clinicians on how far it has spread and what drugs would be amenable to treat those sorts of cancers.

"The work I will be doing will be relatively similar to the job I'm doing just now.

"I think it's going to be a big adventure and a big challenge.

"We have three children and that is going to require a bit of a change, they will go to school out there and it's going to be a different environment and different temperature.

"It's a big move for a family but one we're all quite excited about."

His son, Callum, seven, said: "It's really rainy in Scotland compared to Malawi, which is really sunny.

"When we went to Malawi for a holiday it felt like Butterfly World because it was so hot.

"I'm excited about going there for two years."