Project profile — Ghana Paediatric Nursing Education Partnership

This project aims to reduce death and illness among newborns and children in underserved districts in Ghana. By expanding paediatric nurse programs, this project seeks to build the professional skills of paediatric nurses and health workers to provide quality, cost-effective, evidence-based nursing and midwifery care to newborns and children. This project is providing additional funds in response to the immediate needs of the COVID-19 pandemic for enhanced access to quality healthcare, strengthening education and awareness and demystifying rumours of COVID-19. Project activities include: (1) expanding COVID-19 related training across Ghana to all levels of the health system; (2) enhancing the knowledge and skills of nurses and other health workers in delivering health care during the COVID-19 pandemic; (3) ensuring health workers are equipped and continue to provide routine care to children and families in a safe manner; and (4) leading of outreach activities by clinical leaders and change agents, and graduate nurses, who are trusted in their communities. The project expects to reach about 1,500 people, including nurses, midwives and health workers, directly with training. Approximately 6,700,000 children and newborns are also expected to benefit from better health services as a result of the scale-up of paediatric nursing programs in Ghana. The COVID-19 related activities are expected to directly benefit 86,660 people (including 65,495 females) and indirectly benefit 3.6 million citizens of Ghana as a result of health care workers receiving and delivering COVID-19 specific training.

The expected outcomes of this project include: (1) increased number of clinical nurse educators trained; (2) increased number of nurses enrolled in the paediatric nursing specialist program; (3) increased number of health workers completing continuing professional development courses; and (4) the implementation of essential policies including an equitable national recruitment, retention and deployment strategy.

Results achieved as of the end of the project (April 2023): (1) trained 45,291 health workers (28,926 females and 16,365 males) on COVID-19 through continuing professional development course, online courses in Ghana and some available globally as well as in-person classroom training and a seminar; (2) distributed 371,223 pieces of personal protection equipment to various various faculties of the Ghana College of Nurses and Midviwes health facility including 326,620 surgical masks, 1,411 KN95 masks, 11,058 N95 masks; and (3) reached 118,185 beneficiaries (74,268 females and 43,917 males) through the public health outreach and community engagement activities that addressed misinformation related to COVID-19 and have a specific focus on pregnant women and young girls.