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 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”.
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