Let us teach nursing in all universities

Nursing students

MKU Chairman Prof Simon Gicharu, CBS with nursing students at Equip Africa College of Medical and Health Sciences during the official opening of a Sh300million ultra-modern student cafeteria at the college in Kitale, Trans-Nzoia County.
 

Photo credit: File | nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • Every university should have a school of nursing and midwifery accredited by the Nursing Council of Kenya (NCK) and the Commission for University Education (CUE). 
  • Accessibility to the training would increase the availability of skilled birth attendants and fulfil the dreams of people like my grandmother.

The Covid-19 pandemic and months-old nurses’ strike have led to restricted access to health facilities. With most of the population in the rural areas, where the road network is poor and hospitals ill-equipped, good maternity care is unavailable.

Many deliveries are being done by traditional birth attendants, who may have formal training or just gained experience by assisting family members and neighbours. Otherwise known as nutrition advocates or birth companions, they are integral members of the society.

But although readily available, they are more often than not ill-equipped for the services they give.
My grandmother, 94, told me that she wanted to be a nurse but lacked the necessary support. But through her own experience as a mother, she helped very many friends, neighbours and family members to deliver babies safely. She provided practical and emotional support during pregnancy, delivery and the post-partum period. 

Nurses and midwives

Her services were crucial in the 1980s up to the turn of the century. Her recent return to the frontline to attend to a delivery in our family, therefore, emphasises the need to improve staffing levels in health facilities, improve the working conditions, such as pay, for nurses and midwives to make the profession more attractive.

One way to do that is by training more nurses and midwives from certificate to doctoral levels. The higher education sector has an obligation to create and run graduate programmes to train nurses who, upon retirement, can still help their communities by offering not only primary but also acute care.

Every university should have a school of nursing and midwifery accredited by the Nursing Council of Kenya (NCK) and the Commission for University Education (CUE). 

Accessibility to the training would increase the availability of skilled birth attendants and fulfil the dreams of people like my grandmother.

Mr Manyali, PhD, is the Dean, School of Science, at Kaimosi Friends University College. [email protected]