Nursing education in Africa: South Africa, Nigeria, and Ethiopia experiences

Abstract

This paper studies the development of nursing education in Africa and it is limited to three countries namely, South Africa, Nigeria and Ethiopia. Two cardinal periods are covered which are, colonial and post colonial. But Ethiopia is the only African country that has technically, never been colonised as it successfully repulsed Italy's attempt at occupying it. The reason for this study is to assist modern states in Africa to learn from the past in order to make good decisions for the present as they build a future that will make nursing education a key and crucial partner in the management of health services, including attainment of some of the millennium development goals. Recommendations for the future of nursing education are made as well as important conclusions and findings.

Changes in nursing and mission in post-colonial Nigeria

“…A school of nursing at University College Hospital, Ibadan, was formed in 1952, and in 1954, a Nigerian Midwifery Board was established. 22 In this context, Catholic sisters sensed a serious situation for the future of their hospitals. In 1954 the MMM learned that each region in Nigeria, including the East, where Catholics predominated, was to have only two 'first-class' nurse training schools, one Protestant and one Catholic.…”

Nursing Education in the Gambia: Milestones and Challenges towards Reform

“…This could be attributed to the few PhD faculty members in the department and the country in general. Moreover, in Nigeria, there are twenty-seven post basic nursing education programs including mental health-psychiatry, midwifery, and peri-operative nursing, education program among others [4]. Furthermore, there is no in-country nursing journal.…”

“…It costs D160, 000 (Dalasi; D1 = $43) for two years of fulltime course work including Master's thesis on a research project [11]. Studies have shown that the South African Nursing Council, Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria and the Ethiopian Nursing Association have identified certain strategies to overcome such problem through collaboration with and financial support from organizations such as WHO, Canadian Nurses Association, Royal College of Nursing, United States Agency for International Development, UNICEF and World Trade Organization for funds for those willing to pursue higher degrees in nursing education [4].…”

“…In South Africa, nursing education has undergone dramatic changes from colonial training of white nurses, on-the-job training for black males and later women, to hospital based training and later higher education institutions [4]. In Nigeria, the training of teachers and administrators in 1965 led to the transformation of nursing education and practice with the establishment of Department of Nursing in the 17th conventional (face to face) universities in the country (private and public) of a Baccalaureate/ Generic Bachelor of Nursing Science (BNSc) degree in line with the accepted minimum academic standard and curriculum of the National Universities Commission (NUC) for university based nursing program [5].…”

A model for upscaling global partnerships and building nurse and midwifery capacity

“… All: World Bank (WB) (), World Health Organization (WHO) (); Ethiopia: Ali (), Ethiopian Food, Medicine and Health Care Administration and Control Authority (); India: Indian Nursing Council (), Malik (); Hong Kong: Nursing Council of Hong Kong (n.d.), Nursing Council of Hong Kong Professional Development Committee (); South Africa: Dolamo & Olubiyi (); Uganda: Mbalinda et al. (), Uganda Nurse and Midwife Council (n.d.); United Kingdom: Royal College of Nursing (), Nursing and Midwifery Council (); United States: Woolf & Aron (), National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc. (NCSBN) (); Vietnam: Flemming (), Health Partnership Group (), Ministry of Health (); Zambia: General Nursing Council of Zambia (GNC) (n.d.), Libetwe & Mweemba (). …”