GCNM Rector calls for investment in nurses to achieve Universal Health Coverage

Ms Hannah O.A Acquah, the Rector, Ghana College of Nurses and Midwives (GCNM), says investment in nurses and midwives will help achieve the country’s agenda of Universal Health Coverage.

The Rector said Nurses and Midwives were change agents and that with the right training and supportive environment, they would be leaders in their hospitals and communities.

Ms Acquah said this in Accra at the 10th anniversary second public lecture on the topic: “Advancing Paediatric Nursing Education: GCNM/Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) Collaboration.”

The Ministry of Health and the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), in collaboration with the Ghana College of Nurses and Midwives in 2016, launched the Paediatric Associate Membership Programme, a one-year specialised paediatric nursing education programme.

The Centre for Global Child Health at SickKids and its health system partners in Ghana are improving access to quality health care in response to the COVID-19 pandemic with additional financial support from the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada.

The funding is an extension to the SickKids-Ghana Paediatric Nursing Education Partnership (PNEP), a programme implemented by SickKids together with the Ghana College of Nurses and Midwives, Ghana Health Service and Ghana Ministry of Health.

The primary goal of the partnership is to train paediatric nurses and contribute to Ghana’s national target of 1,500 paediatric nurses as part of the next generation of experts in child health over the next 10 to 15 years.

She said the collaboration was also to develop a competency-based, natural nursing curriculum and build the capacity of faculty members and preceptors.

Ms Acquah said the partnership was driven by gaps in the quality of care and access to healthcare for children in underserved areas and the need for children to have specialised health care professionals.

Touching on the future outlook, she said the College’s plan was to make paediatric nursing education evenly accessible to nurses and midwives across the country, engage stakeholders to recruit nurses to train and deploy to needy areas.

Ms Stephanie de Young, Senior Manager, Nursing Education, SickKids, touching on the outcome of the project, said over 5,000 paediatric nurses were trained in a one-year postgraduate programme between 2015 and 2020.

She said the project had strengthened the health system and improved the quality of paediatric care, adding that the practise-focused nature of the educational programme was critical to the project’s success.