Professor Mzobz Mboya, NEPAD’s Advisor on Education and Training recently met with the Government of Cameroon to put into effect a new master’s degree programme 25 nurses and midwifes in maternal and child care.

The post-graduate programme will be conducted in partnership with South Africa’s Stellenbosch University through NEPAD’s Project on Nursing and Midwifery Education in Africa. The project establishes advanced training programmes in community health nursing, maternal and child health, mental health, critical care and trauma nursing throughout the continent.

An Agreement between the University of Stellenbosch and University of Yaoundé I will be signed soon to roll out the post-graduate programme January 2014.  A three-year curriculum plan will also be drawn up.

Professor Mzobz Mboya said: “The training programme will include health workers in Cameroon to ensure that they are provided with the necessary competencies to address the alarmingly high maternal and mortality rates in Africa.”

Cameroon’s Minister of External Relations in charge of Relations with the Commonwealth, Joseph Dion Ngute said improving primary health care in rural areas was very important and Cameroon needed more competent and well trained nurses and midwives. He said, Cameroon was a strong partner of NEPAD and was willing to support development endeavours.

During the one-year course, lecturers from the University of Stellenbosch will teach at the University of Yaoundé I in Cameroon to share best research and practice in maternal and child health care and to advance the national health education agenda. The students who are already health practitioners will be identified by the Cameroonian Government and are most likely to be selected from rural areas, where their impact is expected to be the greatest.

NEPAD’s project on Nursing and Midwifery Education in Africa is being implemented continent-wide, including Cameroon, Gabon and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The execution of the project in the three countries requires the mobilisation of US$ 2.77 million with a gap of US$1.3 million now.