Nigeria’s Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has said that Nurses and Midwives are key stakeholders to the healthcare delivery system and their contributions are crucial in improving health outcomes of individuals, families, communities, nations and the West African Sub-region as a whole.
Prof. Osinbajo who was represented by the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole stated this on Tuesday at the opening ceremony of the 14th Biennial General Meeting, the 23rd Scientific Session and the 37th Council Meeting of the West African Council of Nursing at the ECOWAS Conference Centre Abuja.
According to him, in most Sub-Saharan Africa region, the responsibilities of Nurses have increased in line with expanding health services to meet local, national and global health targets, including the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
He said that in order to complement the efforts of the government, the role of Nurses and Midwives on the health systems need to be reviewed, delineated and recognized for better impact and optimum contribution to positive health.
Prof. Osinbajo disclosed that the Federal Government of Nigeria was putting Nigerian nurses and midwives at the forefront of revitalization of primary healthcare services in the country. “We will soon roll out mass engagement of nurses and community health extension workers in all our PHCs for effective and efficient 24-hour coverage of healthcare services’’. He stressed.
In her remarks, the wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Muhammadu Buhari, who was represented by the wife of the Vice President, Mrs. Oludolapo Osinbajo expressed her deep appreciation to the nursing profession describing it as a great profession that sacrifice a lot in their efforts to manage patients.
While applauding the role nurses played during the containment of Ebola disease that plagued the region in 2014 where nurses risked their lives to save others, Mrs. Buhari congratulated the Nurses for organizing such Conference that was aimed at sharing Ideas among the Nursing profession.
She said: “Through my pet project, ‘’ Future- Assured’’, I have witnessed great need to support the nursing profession to reach greater height and from all indications the profession will grow exponentially in the coming years’’. She noted.
Earlier, in his welcome address, President of the West African College of Nursing Dr. Victor D. Zoclanclounon, thanked Nigeria for accepting to host the 14th Biennial General Meeting adding that the choice of the theme of the Conference: Emerging Health Challenges: Community and Health Workforce Responsibilities in the Sub-region was apt considering the prevailing health challenges confronting the region.
He however underscored the importance of the nursing profession describing it as central to the healthcare delivery system adding that nurses and midwives are the frontline workers who are always caught in the cross fire of containing health emergencies.
