11 June 2015 Volume :3 Issue :28

Child and Maternal Nursing Programme

Students from Congo-Brazzaville with NEPAD, the Republic of the Congo Government and UKZN officials.

Twenty students from the Republic of Congo have started a specialist studies programme in child and maternal nursing as part of the NEPAD Project on Nursing and Midwifery Education in Africa in which UKZN is involved. 

The NEPAD Agency in collaboration with the Government of the Republic of Congo; host institution, the Marien Ngouabi University; UKZN, and African education authorities, have begun a bridging/honours programme which will continue into a Masters degree programme next year. 

The Project is a partnership between several tertiary institutions which do not offer nursing and midwifery education at postgraduate level and those that do. The aim is to assist the host Institutions in developing their own postgraduate programmes. This educational intervention involves collaboration in curriculum development, teaching, research and student assessment. A crucial and strategic relationship is developed and placed within the context of the needs of the country, the region and the continent with regard to health professional training as well as higher education institutional revitalisation.  

Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Mozambique also have such specialist programme. So far, about 70 nurses and midwives have completed masters degrees and acquired work experience which enable them to improve how they could serve their communities. In addition, around 100 nurses and midwives graduate this year.   

In Kenya, students are trained in community health nursing, maternal and child nursing graduated whilst students in Tanzania specialise in psychiatric nursing, critical care and trauma. In Rwanda, the training focuses on critical care and trauma.  

The NEPAD project not only provides training for specialist practitioners, but also researchers in these fields and people who can train others. The Project will be extended to Gabon and Cameroon next year. 

* The article first appeared on NEPAD e-alert on June 1

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