Resilient Nursing School in Northern Mali Graduates 126 New Health Workers for the Region

March 18, 2020 Gao, MaliLast month, 126 new health workers graduated from the Gao Nursing School in remote northern Mali, a major step for a region that has a shortage of health workers. Mali has only six health workers per 10,000 people (the World Health Organization recommends at least 23 for every 10,000 people), and the shortage is especially acute in the north, whereviolence and extremism over the past decade have left many without access to care.IntraHealth International has partnered with Mali’s Ministry of Health to support the Gao Nursing School since it opened in 2001. The school is now responsible for graduating 89% of all the health workers in northern Mali, according to a new report by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). And it has also proved resilient. Over the past two decades, it has served as a haven for women with obstetric fistula, been damaged and occupied by rebels, and has now recovered to once again to produce new, well-trained nurses and midwives for the region’s population.“A lot of people were skeptical because the school is in such a rural area,” says Cheick Touré, IntraHealth’s country director in Mali.“But we started a scholarship fund and now, the Gao Nursing School is self-sustaining and 89% of students pass their annual tests.”Providing scholarships to local students makes them much more likely to stay in their communities after they graduate and provides much-needed health se...
Source: IntraHealth International - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Mali Mali Human Resources for Health Strengthening Activity Education & Performance Health Workforce Systems Midwives Nurses Source Type: news