 Welcome to NNASA
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.
Neonatal care is under the spotlight at the moment following the unfortunate deaths of so many babies from infection. Poor funding, lack of staff and equipment leading to impossible work loads, 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.
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. With a mixed focus of members 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, our organisation has demonstrated our strength from the very beginning. Starting with a small group of passionate neonatal nurses in KZN we already have members from around Southern Africa and indeed in surrounding countries. We are an associate member of COINN (The Council of International Neonatal Nurses), giving us international support and guidance. Our recently held inaugural national conference (held only 5 months after its launch) was a GREAT success. It provided Neonatal Nurses from diverse locations and
backgrounds with the opportunity to meet face to face, to learn, share and grow together If this was anything to go by, when we host the 7th International Neonatal Nurses Conference in 2010, the world will see that passion, compassion and excellence in nursing care is found in Africa.
The greatest gift that can be given is hope and a future. With the depth of their care for seriously ill newborns, these nurses are helping to provide these children with a future and their parents with hope. In so doing they help others to live by their motto, “Reach for the Stars” by highlighting neonatal 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 national neonatal and maternal care policies that will impact on the devastating perinatal mortality rates we have in Africa.
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