Abstract
BackgroundAngola is one of the African countries with the highest morbidity and mortality rates and a devastating lack of human resources for health, including nursing. The World Health Organization stimulates and takes technical cooperation initiatives for human resource education and training in health and education, with a view to the development of countries in the region. The aim in this study was to identify how nurses affiliated with nursing education institutions perceive the challenges nursing education is facing in Angola.MethodsAfter consulting the National Directory of Human Resources in Angola, the nurse leaders affiliated with professional nursing education institutions in Angola were invited to participate in the study by email. Data were collected in February 2009 through the focus group technique. The group of participants was focused on the central question: what are the challenges faced for nursing education in your country? To register and understand the information, besides the use of a recorder, the reporters elaborated an interpretative report. Data were coded using content analysis.ResultsFourteen nurses participated in the meeting, most of whom were affiliated with technical nursing education institutions. It was verified that the nurse leaders at technical and higher nursing education institutions in Angola face many challenges, mainly related to the lack of infrastructure, absence of trained human resources, bureaucratic problems to regularize the schools and lack of material resources. On the opposite, the solutions they present are predominantly centered on the valuation of nursing professionals, which implies cultural and attitude changes.ConclusionsPublic health education policies need to be established in Angola, including action guidelines that permit effective nursing activities. Professional education institutions need further regularizations and nurses need to be acknowledged as key elements for the qualitative enhancement of health services in the country.
Highlights
Angola is one of the African countries with the highest morbidity and mortality rates and a devastating lack of human resources for health, including nursing
The mission of the World Health Organization [1] is health promotion, focusing its guidelines on strategic regions, including the African continent, which is characterized by high morbidity and mortality rates and a low human development index (HDI)
A Portuguesespeaking African country, was devastated by a longlasting civil war, resulting in a low HDI, which has ranked the country in the 148th position on the list of countries included in the Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Program [2]
Summary
Angola is one of the African countries with the highest morbidity and mortality rates and a devastating lack of human resources for health, including nursing. The World Health Organization stimulates and takes technical cooperation initiatives for human resource education and training in health and education, with a view to the development of countries in the region. The mission of the World Health Organization [1] is health promotion, focusing its guidelines on strategic regions, including the African continent, which is characterized by high morbidity and mortality rates and a low human development index (HDI). A Portuguesespeaking African country, was devastated by a longlasting civil war, resulting in a low HDI, which has ranked the country in the 148th position on the list of countries included in the Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Program [2]. Angola is part of this group, with one physician and 63 nursing professionals for every 10000 inhabitants and 220 deaths of children before the age of five for every 1000 live births
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