UKZN Signs Agreement to Improve Nursing in KZN

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UKZN’s School of Nursing and Public Health (SNPH) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with representatives from the International Centre for AIDS Care Treatment Programme (ICAP) and the Office of the Chief Nursing Officer.

Country Programme Manager for ICAP in South Africa, Professor Thembi Khanyile, said the aim of the MOU was to establish a relationship between her organisation and the University to forge a nursing education and training strategy that will benefit both the nursing profession and the Institution.

UKZN is the only institution of higher learning that ICAP will work through with students involved in this project being selected from the three Nursing colleges in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and the Free State.

Khanyile said the ICAP would assist the Institution with financial and technical support for six fulltime Master of Nursing students while registered at the University.

The project will start in February next year and there are already six students that will register at UKZN.

Khanyile said the University was expected to support students with settling in logistics (ie residence accommodation) and structured academic support.

The Institution is also expected to participate in the monthly Nursing Education Partnership Initiative (NEPI) update meetings to discuss students’ progress and also support students in developing realistic achievable programme plans.

‘We are here because UKZN’s Nursing Discipline within the School of Nursing and Public Health already has an existing Innovative nursing education programme, which fits well with our priority number one, of nursing education,’ said Professor Fikile Mtshali, who is currently providing technical support to the Chief Nursing Officer(CNO).

Mtshali said the selected students would be exposed to UKZN’s innovative models of teaching and learning as part of building their capacity.  The CNO’s office had a mandate to ensure that nursing and midwifery practitioners were equipped to address the disease burden and population health needs in a revitalised healthcare system in South Africa.

Dean and Head of School, Professor Busi Ncama, welcomed the initiative and thanked representatives for choosing her School.

‘The initiative will make UKZN a preferred Higher Education Institute for the Master of Nursing programme in the country and in Africa. It will also increase the number of our publications because masters students are expected to present and publish their research work,’ Ncama said.

ICAP is a global health initiative leader situated at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. The organisation aims to improve the health of families and communities by tackling the most pressing health threats in collaboration with partners to implement transformative solution to meet health needs. It also aims to build capacity of the health workforce through innovative and ethical programmes.

Nombuso Dlamini