ICN hosts webinar on the implications of the WHO’s strategy for nursing and midwifery for nurses in East, Central and Southern Africa

The International Council of Nurses (ICN) has hosted a webinar on how the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Strategic Directions for Nursing and Midwifery (2021-2025) (SDNM) will affect nurse education and workforce issues in East, Central and Southern Africa (ECSA).

The webinar, which was attended by members of ICN’s National Nursing Associations (NNAs), Nursing Now groups and individual nurses from the region, was intended to:

• Alert nurses to the ECSA Education and Labour Markets for Nurses report, jointly authored by ICN, the World Bank, the ECSA College of Nursing and Jhpiego, and its relevance to the SDNM
• Build on collaboration in ECSA between ICN’s NNAs, Nursing Now groups and other nursing organisations in each region
• Explore strategies to implement country and regional priorities related to the SDNM and monitor progress

Discussion during the webinar focused on the similarity of the recommendations in the ECSA report, the State of the World’s Nursing report and the SDNM.

Cooperation and collaboration between nurses in different African countries and regions were highlighted as key components of a successful implementation of the recommendations of the report, which focus on how to invest in nursing education, regulation, data and analysis, and the nursing labour market.

There was discussion about the potential power of cooperation between the so-called ‘QUAD’ leaders - which includes the government level nursing officer, the president of the national nursing association, a leading academic nurse and the nursing regulator – to make real changes and influence nursing and healthcare policy at the very highest level.

ICN Chief Executive Howard Catton congratulated ECSA colleagues on the strength of the report and its usefulness is revealing data from those regions in Africa.

“This is a moment where Africa could be ahead of the game in terms of nursing and midwifery. This fantastic report, brought forward by ECSA colleagues, provides us with a data-rich source of information about the nursing and midwifery professions on the continent. The report, coupled with the State of the World’s Nursing report (SOWN), enables us to have a policy-driven discussion based on specific data.”

ICN second vice-president and board member Thembeka Gwagwa called for unity among nurse leaders across the African regions so that they can work together to ensure that the recommendations of the SDNM are achieved.

“We can only succeed in lobbying for these recommendations if we, as nurse leaders, are able to put our differences aside and work together,” she said.

ICN Senior Advisor Erica Burton gave a summary of the ECSA report, saying it represents a true collaboration over several years between the partners involved: the World Bank, ICN, the ECSA College of Nursing (ECSACON) and Jhpiego.

“This report provides a comprehensive assessment of the education and labour markets for nurses in the ECSA region. It documents the main challenges to training and deploying nurses, and discusses opportunities for governments and the private sector, importantly, to overcome those challenges.”

ICN Chief Nurse Michelle Acorn spoke about the significant alignment of the report findings and synergy with key global nursing documents – the SOWN, the SDNM and the ECSA report - targeting nurse education, jobs, leadership and service delivery. She raised a number of considerations:

“How can we drive investment in the nursing workforce and demonstrate that investing in nursing is growing the health and wealth of our nations. How can we stimulate the supply of nurses for meaningful role value and keep them in our countries and regions?”

ICN Nursing Now Transition Project Consultant Susan Williams chaired a panel of three experts about what can be learned from what has already been successful in the ECSA regions.

Panellist Khama Rogo a former World Bank Lead Health Specialist, said the report was one of the best on human resources he had ever seen.

“These recommendations are all doable: there is a lot of low hanging fruit, short- and long-term things that can be done, but all of them must start now,” Mr Rogo said. He spoke about the high number of nurses who are dying because of COVID-19 – five times more nurses than doctors – and said if that was happening to any other professional group it would be front page news around the world. He said nurses are the “boots on the ground” in the struggle to achieve Universal Health Care, but that they need nurse leaders in positions of influence to make it a reality.

Panellist Keoagetse Kgwabi, President of the ECSA College of Nursing (ECSACON), said all the recent reports are pointing in the same direction, but warned that ministries of health have not taken the required action to make the changes that are needed.

“Are the ministries of health taking any action? If they have not in the past, it worries me that they won’t take action on this report. At ECSACON we are trying to push the recommendations of the report. My prayer is that all the QUADs should be working together as much as we expect governments to do this, we are doing our bit. “ Panellist Priscar Sakala-Mukonka, Head of Lusaka College of Nursing and Midwifery, spoke about the implementation of the previous SDNM in Zambia and said that Universal Health Care cannot be achieved without involvement of nurses. Although running out of time, she spoke about how nurse education was being transformed in Zambia through new courses, for example in community and childcare nursing, emergency and trauma care, critical care nursing, and through continuing professional development.

A video recording of the webinar can be found here as well more information.