The Child Nurse Practice Development Initiative: Building children’s nursing for Africa, in Africa
ADDRESSING THE HEALTHCARE WORKFORCE CRISIS
Addressing the human resource crisis in health care is key to reversing the trend of rising child mortality in Africa. Currently, just 2% of registered nurses in Southern Africa are trained paediatric nurses with the skills and knowledge needed to improve outcomes for acutely ill infants and children.
- A total of 213 nurses have graduated from our courses, from 9 African countries.
- 100% of our programme graduates have returned to work in their home countries, and many go on to lead important developments in child health systems and services throughout Africa.
The Child Nurse Practice Development Initiative delivers the discipline specific elements of the post graduate paediatric nurse education programmes offered by the Division of Nursing and Midwifery at UCT. In addition to our educational work, the CNPDI programme team has facilitated the establishment of new in-country training capacity in 3 other African countries (Kenya, Malawi and Zambia), and is working to establish additional 5 training hubs across Africa.
MALAWI
When the first 3 students came to UCT from Malawi for child nurse training in 2010, there was just one registered paediatric nurse in Malawi, and she was retired. Five years on, with match funding from Malawian Department of Health, 29 children’s nurses have graduated from UCT and returned to work in Malawi. A region- and purpose-fit curriculum has been designed and accredited in Malawi. We have worked with colleagues there to establish a new in-country training hub at the Kamuzu College of Nursing which will generate between 50 and 60 children’s nurses each year from 2016 (see infographic attached). The collaboration with Malawi will continue as postgraduate Malawian nurses undertake Clinical Masters and PhD programmes at UCT. This year there is one Malawian nurse leader on each of these programmes (Tiyamike Nkhoma and Sadandaula Muheriwa, details available).
NAMIBIA
Initiative lead, Associate Professor Minette Coetzee continues to work with national ministries of health and national and regional stakeholders to develop new training capacity for children’s nursing. During a visit to Namibia in April 2016 Minette Coetzee and Prof Agnes van Dyk, HoD Nursing at Windhoek’s International University of Management (IUM ) hosted a consultative meeting with the deputy Minister of Health, the Vice Chancellor and senior management at the IUM, the Namibian Nursing Council, local paediatric nursing service managers and the WHO representative. At the meeting they received the mandate to establish Paediatric and Newborn Nurse training in Namibia for Namibia over the next 3 years. We look forward to welcoming Namibian students from 2017 while working with nurse educators and clinicians in Namibia to establish a sustainable in-country approach to training, similar to our successful Malawian partnership.
To date, two nurses from Uganda have undertaken training as APFP Nursing Fellows. Both have returned to service leadership roles in Uganda, and we continue to work with them to support the implementation of practices learned on the programme to improve care for children.
Lydia Ssenyonga, Assistant Director of Nursing at CURE Children’s Hospital (pictured), graduated with a Post Graduate Diploma in Child Nursing in 2012. Lydia’s husband, Dr Peter Sssenyonga, a paediatric neurosurgeon, is a Fellow of the APFP Medical Fellowships. Since her graduation, Lydia has completed a Masters degree and has been appointed as a Board member of the Ugandan Nursing Council, and continues to partner with the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at UCT as she continues her research into the physiological impact of the mother’s presence for babies being prepared for surgery.
Photographs and contact details for interviewees in Malawi and Namibia available on request. Lydia Ssenyonga is available for interview in Cape Town until Friday 29th April.
OUR CONTACT DETAILS
For more information contact Natasha North, Research Programme Director
+27 (0)21 658 5492
www.childnursingpractice.ac.za
See our Steller story here: https://steller.co/s/5cyWsVNWEUK
Photo courtesy of The Child Nurse Practice Development Initiative