BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – The USA Embassy in Eswatini, through the President’s Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), has pumped E80 million as a starter pack of the Nursing Leadership Initiative (NLI).
This was said today by Minister for Health Mduduzi Matsebula when introducing Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini to deliver his key note address. This was during the launch of the NLI, which was officially done by the prime minister.
Matsebula said the NLI would equip the nurses with appropriate leadership and technical skills to ensure sustainability in dealing with diseases such as HIV/AIDS and to detect and respond to new and emerging diseases. He said they were grateful to the USA Government for PEPFAR.
He said what had been the most important thing in dealing with HIV/AIDS was that Government decided to deal with the disease from the highest level of the hierarchy of the administration. He said the National Emergency Response Council on HIV and AIDS (NERCHA) was housed in the office of the prime minister because Government saw the importance of dealing with such a pandemic from that level.
Matsebula also stated that Dlamini’s presence showed how Government was committed in ensuring that quality health was achieved for Emaswati. The minister said they were motivated by such a gesture from the prime minister.
In Eswatini, the programme will focus on three areas, which are building nurses’ leadership capacity skills, strengthening frontline nurses’ capacity to respond to emerging public health threats and emergencies and promoting workplace wellness.
According to Deputy Chief Nursing Officer Thembi Dlamini, PEPFAR initiated the NLI just to fortify the health care workforce and to ensure sustainability in HIV response in the country and addressing emerging health security threats. This initiative, according to the chief nursing officer, will empower nurse leaders to lead HIV planning, delivery and respond effectively to health challenges.
Eswatini is one of the seven African countries implementing this initiative. Others countries implementing NLI include Ivory Coast, Nigeria, South Africa, Botswana, Malawi, and Zambia.
