When asked about her recent visit to Cape Town at the invitation of the Child Nurse Practice Development Initiative, the response of Yevonnie Chauraya is nothing but positive.

Yevonnie Chauraya, university nursing lecturer from Zimbabwe,  joined the UCT based team of child nurse educators for a three-week internship from January to  February 2019. The purpose of this internship was to provide a nurse educator with the opportunity to join an established children’s nursing programme team to share ideas and learning. Yevonnie will be co-leading the new children’s nursing programme design and delivery at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

Under the guidance of Prof Minette Coetzee and her team at the Child Nurse Practice Development Initiative, they shared ideas on how best to train nurses nursing children and so improve the lives of those children and their families in countries in the southern and eastern regions of Africa.

“This programme is a very good endeavour aiming at reaching as many nurses as possible in Africa interested in working with children, in an effort to reduce child morbidity, mortality; thereby improving quality of life of children in Africa. In my own thinking, the programme is very necessary and has come at a time when global effort is on ensuring good health and well being for all ages. (SDG 3)” she explains.

 “The internship was a wonderful experience as a lot of learning took place and we can also tap from the special teaching strategies and child nursing experience of Professor Minette. Professor Minette and her team are hospitable and keen to assist where they can for the betterment of child health.” reports Yevonnie.

“It is my hope that the funding for this child health programme is maintained to enable the team to achieve more in its efforts of making lives of children in Africa better, through the training of as many paediatric nurses as possible. In my view and experience over my three week visit to Professor Minette and her team, the initiative is living up to its aims. Nurses from countries such as Malawi and Zambia are already training children’s nurses and they have also reached out to us in Zimbabwe to assist in opening our own Bachelor of Science Honours Degree in Paediatric Nursing.”