NNASA 5th National Conference

4th and 5th October 2012
Kopano Nokeng
Bloemfontein

Theme: “A TIME TO REFLECT …. A TIME TO ACT”

  Welcome to NNASA

Neonatal care is under the spotlight a following the unfortunate deaths of so many babies from infection. Neonatal deaths account for one third of all under five mortality (U5M). Priority must be given to improving standards of neonatal care in order for South Africa to achieve Millennium Development Goal four (MDG4)- a two-third reduction in U5M by 2015. Poor funding, lack of staff and
equipment leading to impossible workloads, and almost no training opportunities have resulted in disillusionment, frustration and an inability to recruit and retain staff in this highly specialized and stressful field.

Neonatal Nurses provide for the needs of the most frail and fragile in our society. Now the private and public sectors have joined hands to help one another in this task.

If you ask anyone in the caring professions what they need the most, they will invariably answer “SUPPORT”. Very often the best support is from people who know what you are struggling through, can empathise with your frustrations, can share your sorrows and delight in your successes. The Neonatal Nurses Association of Southern Africa (launched in February 2007) is seeking to do
just that, by bringing together these specialist nurses from around the country and giving them a forum within which to share and encourage each other, to grow their skills and knowledge, to find encouragement and fellowship and ultimately improve the standard of neonatal care in the region.

Unlike the children in our care, NNASA has demonstrated its strength from the very beginning. Starting with a small group of passionate neonatal nurses in KZN in 2007 we now have members from around Southern Africa and indeed in surrounding countries.
We are members of The Council of International Neonatal Nurses (COINN), The International Stillbirth Alliance (ISA) and the Healthy Newborn Network (HNN) and are affiliated with the United South African Neonatal Association (USANA). Our annual national conferences are growing in numbers and are attracting top presenters. They provide neonatal nurses from diverse locations
and backgrounds with the opportunity to meet face to face, to learn, share and grow together. NNASA also successfully co-hosted with COINN in October 2010 (only 3 years since our inception!) the 7th International Neonatal Nurses Conference (7th ICNN) attracting 500 delegates from 19 different countries and launched the 1st International Neonatal Nursing Excellence Awards together
with Saving Newborn Lives.

By highlighting neonatal nursing care in South Africa we expect to achieve an increased recognition of neonatal nursing as a specialty in its own right, the development of a national diploma in neonatal nursing, the possibility of international exchanges and to instil a sense of excitement and passion in our neonatal nurses. We also hope to encourage other African countries to launch neonatal nursing associations of their own and to develop evidenced based national neonatal and maternal care policies that will impact on the devastating perinatal mortality rates we have in Africa.

The greatest gift that can be given is hope and a future. With the depth of our care for seriously ill newborns, NNASA is helping to provide these children with a future and their parents with hope. In so doing we help others to live by our motto, “Reach for the Stars”.

LINKS

TRAINING LINKS

5th NNASA CONFERENCE 2012

NEONATAL NURSING EXCELLENCE AWARD 2012 NOMINATION.

CONTACT US

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