United in caring for neonates
Neonatal nurses are needed!
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 (NNASA) was founded in 2007 after recognizing a need for improved support for, and networking amongst, neonatal nurses in the region. With the high neonatal mortality rates and lack of available neonatal nurse training some other mechanism was required to support nurses in caring for sick and preterm babies. 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 NNASA aims to ultimately improve the standard of neonatal care in the various regions.
We cannot allow a single…newborn to die because of our negligence…It will be criminal for us to allow any of these things to happen.
Did you know?
Every 2 seconds, a baby is born too soon. Every 40 seconds, one of those babies dies.
%
of all children in SA who die before they are 5, die in the 1st month of life- the neonatal period.
Over 9000 babies die in their first week of life in SA every year.
Prematurity is the leading cause of death in children under 5 years.
South Africa is 1 of 8 out of 193 countries whose neonatal mortality rate was climbing.
The South African Nursing Council records 319 trained neonatal nurses but these may not all be working in SA.
No more neonatal nurses are currently being trained.
Neonatal Mortality
Neonatal mortality is relatively unchanged despite decreases in the under one-year and under five-year old mortality rates. 40% of childhood deaths fall in the neonatal period.
Caring! Passion! Excellence!
NNASA pledges, on behalf of all neonatal nurses in SA to uphold Madiba’s vision for a country unified and at peace…where all strive to give their best in service to their country and its people. We strive to live and work with passion and commitment and to nurse the newborns of our nation with excellence and great care.
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Our latest Articles
Exploring the space for task shifting to support nursing on neonatal wards in Kenyan public hospitals
Finding relevant research on neonatal nursing in Africa can be a challenge. Here is an interesting article looking at how some nurses address the challenges of short staffing. Nursing practice