Nursing and Midwifery: national consultative session on Vision 2025 concludes

A two-day national consultative meeting on Vision 2025 for Nursing and Midwifery concluded on Thursday, aimed at to formulate a national strategy to guide the development of the future role of nursing and midwifery in the provision and improvement of health services in the country.
The consultative session was organised by Pakistan Nursing Council (PNC) in collaboration with Midwifery Association Pakistan (MAP), USAID and Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Co-ordination, Pakistan along with sponsorship and logistic support from Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program (MCHIP).
The basic purpose of the session to formulate a National Nursing and Midwifery Strategy to guide the development of the future role of nursing and midwifery in the provision and improvement of health services in the country. The meeting was presided over by Dr Rafat Jan, President of Pakistan Nursing Council. The chief invitees were Fadwa Affara, International Nursing Consultant.
Dr A Q Javed Iqbal, Representative of Director General Health, Dr Zarifuddin Khan, Deputy Chief of Party from MCHIP/Jhpiego and Shrutidhar Tripathi, International Programme Co-ordinator, UNFPA, Sindh. In addition, a total number of 49 nursing and midwifery leaders from the public and private sectors were also attended the discussions in two days. All provinces were represented and the participants were drawn from the education, practice, regulatory and professional association fields.
It is worth mentioning that Pakistan would be the first country in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO) to start working on the National Strategic Plan for Nursing and Midwifery development, following the recent publication of EMRO's Action Framework for strengthening nursing and midwifery in the region 2016-2025.
Participants worked for developing the Nursing and Midwifery Vision 2025 and identified and prioritised the critical challenges that need to be addressed in the National Strategic Plan. Nasreen Ghani, Co-ordinator KMU Institute of Nursing Sciences (KINS), Peshawar and Chairperson Registration, Pakistan Nursing Council Islamabad hoped that this consultative meeting will provide a vision to guide the reforms required and a sound basis for the necessary actions to be taken for the development of Nursing and Midwifery professions in the country, which is the prime priority of the government.