The 5th ECSACON’s Quadrennial General Meeting and 11th Scientific Conference in Zimbabwe

The East, Central and Southern Africa College of Nursing (ECSACON) held its 5^th quadrennial general meeting and the 11^th Scientific Conferenceat Harare International Conference Center -Rainbow Towers in Harare, Zimbabwe.The Scientific conference was held from 1^st to 3^rd September 2014 and followed by the quadrennial meeting from 4^th to 5^th September 2014. The occasion congregated about 600 nurses and midwives, researchers, clinicians and partners from the region and beyond.

The theme of the conference was “Increasing access to quality nursing and midwifery care: Nurses and Midwives taking the leading role.”

The main objective was to explore and share research findings, best practices (high impact interventions) as well as experiences on how nursing and midwifery will accelerate achievement of MDGs.

Specific objectives of the conference were:

1. To share ideas and learn how Nursing and Midwifery fraternity can facilitate acceleration towards achievement of MDGs
2. To share experiences on strengthening human resources for health for effective health services delivery through nurses and midwives that form a pool of frontline workers.
3. To disseminate best practices and innovative ideas in increasing access to health care delivery.
4. To learn about evidence based practices in sexual, reproductive health, maternal and child health services provision through sustainable partnerships.
5. To share evidences towards mitigating the impact of alarming communicable and non-communicable diseases as well as risky life-style behaviours.
6. To make recommendations on the way forward in transforming nursing and midwifery to adopt innovative strategies in order to accelerate achievement of MDGs and health for all agenda.

As a symbol of nursing profession, the ceremony was furnished by the lamp lighting as a tribute to Florence Nightingale a founder of modern day nursing. This represents the light and enlightment that come with knowledge. This was then followed by an opening prayer.

In attendance was the guest of honor Professor Hope Sadza (a founder and founding vice chancellor of Womens University in Africa). In her eloquent speech, she emphasized on the need for nurses to be educated and remain in the region instead of migrating overseas. The ECSACON President Mrs Maleshone Monethi-seeiso delivered her speech followed by remarks from other dignitaries such as Professor C. Samkange-the President of ECSA College of Health Sciences, Professor Yoswa M. Dambisya, the Director General of ECSA Health Community  and Leslie Mancuso, Jhpiego President among others.

As part of the event the guest of honor launched the ECSACON website and Continuous Professional Development (CPD) e-library.In her key note speech, ProfessorLeslie Mancuso, Jhpiego President emphasized the importance of nurses and midwives taking lead in increasing access to quality nursing and midwifery care.She encouraged the delegates not relent in their efforts until all the MDGs have been attained.

To mark the event fruitfully, all three days were enriched by plenary and parallel sessions where interactive scientific presentations from different stakeholders delivered. Click here to access All presentations and photos of the event ..

Acknowledgment

The event could not have been successful without the support of various individuals. We are very grateful to all the stakeholders who supported this event. A few of these includes-Health Community, ECSACON, Government of Zimbabwe through Ministry of Health and Child Care, USAID, WHO, ICAP, Jhpiego, Intrahealth/Evidence to action project (E2A), ARC, ICN, ICM.