Report by Munashe Nyika, Young Nurse and Nursing Now Board Member
Doha, Qatar 13th-14th November 2018
The World Innovative Summit for Health (WISH) was held in Doha, Qatar on the 13th and 14th of November 2018 as part of Doha Health Care week.
Youth Pre-Summit Workshop
Both young nurse representatives from Nursing Now, together with young nurses from Qatar and students from the University of Calgary, facilitated a Global Health Development workshop for young nurses prior to the forum. The workshop was aimed at young nurses and midwives, including students and early career nurses. The aim of the workshop was to engage young Qatari nurses towards the Nursing Now campaign, and to stimulate discussion on global health topics among young nurses.
The workshop was attended by approximately 30 students. The session was facilitated by 6 young nurses: Cynthia Mutisya (Kenya), Sarah Walji (Canada), Nurul Rizkika (Qatar), Munashe Nyika (Zimbabwe), Refka Ouattas (Qatar), Rashid Salim (Kenya), and Huda K. Al_Amri (Qatar). The workshop included engaging discussions on culture and gender, technology, mental health, leadership and advocacy.
The workshop was supported by the Hamad Medical Centre (HMC), Sidra, University of Calgary in Qatar and the Primary Healthcare Corporation. Many seniors nurses and global leaders in nursing showed their support of the event by popping in and addressing the young nurses throughout the day. Professor Sheila Tlou, co-chair of Nursing Now, gave a keynote address to the group, sharing the journey of her career and motivating young nurses for leadership. The Workshop ended with young nurses working on a call to action.
Agora Session: What to do about the lack of men in Nursing globally
On the last day of the WISH Forum, following the session on nursing and Universal Health Coverage and the launch of the report Nursing and Midwifery: The key to the rapid and cost-effective expansion of high quality universal health coverage, a session was held on the lack of men in nursing. The session was moderated by Steve Ford, Editor of the Nursing Times. The panel included Dr Jim Campbell, the Director of Health Workforce at the WHO, Professor Sheila Tlou and Munashe Nyika, young nurse from Zimbabwe. Many people, both male and female, attended the session. A strong number of young male nurses from the University of Calgary in Qatar were present at the session. The session had an interactive discussion, with panelists agreeing the need to encourage more men to enter into the profession, to address the gender gap in nursing. The session brought out many opinions from participants in the crowd and ended with a commitment by both men and women to raise the status and profile of nursing across the globe.
