27th July, 2009
AMREF’s Virtual Nursing School takes centre stage at London Talk shop
AMREF’s Virtual Nursing School (AVNS) was the focus of discussions hosted by the Africa Research Institute (ARI) in London early this month at the launch of a case study publication by Angela Nguku, the Coordinator of the School. ’Nursing the Future: eLearning and Clinical Care In Kenya’ is a publication in the Policy Voice Series produced by the ARI , a non-partisan think tank based in London whose mission is to draw attention to ideas that have worked in Africa, and to identify areas where new ideas are needed.
The Policy Voice Series highlights instances of personal achievement with wider implications for policy-makers in Africa. In publishing these case stories, ARI seeks to identify the factors that lie behind successful interventions and to draw policy lessons from individual experience.
Angela was invited for the launch of the Policy Voices Series from July 7-10, 2009 at the St Stephen’s Club, London, during the ARI’s annual summer party. The large turn-out included representatives from Accenture and AMREF in UK, high commissioners from various African countries, members of the UK Parliament, NGO representatives both from the UK and Africa and individuals. The discussions were in interview format, with Mark Ashurst, the director of the ARI, asking her questions about AMREF’s innovative training programme to train health workers and her work to establish the AVNS. The unique nursing school emerged the best overall in national examinations for nurse upgrading schools in the country, yet no innovation of such a magnitude had been tried in Africa before. The lessons learnt from establishing and running the virtual nursing school and key areas of policy change needed are highlighted in the publication.
The interview was well received, drawing applause from the audience. Afterwards, Angela was interviewed by the BBC’s Swahili Service on AVNS. She was able to interact with guests from various African countries and organisations who are interested in AMREF’s work and how they can start similar programmes in countries like Angola, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Ghana and Nigeria.
Among the guests was former UK High Commissioner to Kenya, Sir Edward Clay, who expressed his delight with AMREF’s work. The chairman of the ARI, Mr Richard Smith, who is also the main sponsor of the publication, said he was impressed with how well AMREF had managed to use ICT to train nurses. Mr Alistair Boyd, a former AMREF board member, applauded the project and challenged the organisation to come up with more e Learning solutions to train health workers.
“ My trip was both a learning and sharing experience as I met key people who can be influenced or influence such programmes elsewhere in Africa and beyond,” says Angela.
