The COVID-19 pandemic will have a short, medium and long-term impact on healthcare delivery and workforce for Zambia. This project has been designed to provide solutions to address the effects of diverting resources to tackle Covid-19 and future outbreaks from other areas of healthcare.
In Zambia, the nursing work-force are the only professional group who are present at every stage of the patient pathway, from initial contact in a rural health clinic or emergency and trauma services through inpatient services to discharge and rehabilitation. As a result, individually they have more patient contact than all other professional groups combined. This project is working with nurses to understand how best to increase their capacity, leadership, management and clinical decision-making to prevent healthcare systems becoming overwhelmed and to enable nurses to identify and respond appropriately to the rapidly changing health needs that arise during outbreaks of infectious diseases and pandemics.
Project aims
This capacity-building project uses a multi-method, approach to develop policies for solution-focused practice. It encompasses short, medium and long term guidance, processes and procedures for use by nursing and community healthcare workers (CHW) to implement in response to a rapidly evolving COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, it aims to:
- Scale up healthcare service personnel to enable them to respond to the current COVID-19 pandemic in the short, medium and long-term.
- Enhance policies and strategies to enable the transformation and focus of current practice while maintaining on-going service provision at all levels.
- Develop recommendations for community engagement to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and future infectious disease outbreaks.
Who completed the project?
- Professor Joy Notter
- Chris Carter
Who are we working with?
- Zambia
- UKRI GCRF / Newton Fund Agile Response Call to address Covid-19
- Ministry of Health
- General Nursing Council of Zambia
- Zambia Union of Nursing Organisations
- Levy Mwanawasa Medical University
- Lusaka College of Nursing
- Ndola College of Nursing
Funding
UKRI / GCRF
GCRF is a £1.5 billion fund supporting cutting-edge research and innovation that addresses the global issues faced by developing countries, and forms part of the UK Government’s ODA commitment.
It harnesses the strengths of the UK’s world-leading researchers enabling them to collaborate with experts in developing countries through equitable partnerships. GCRF focuses on funding challenge-led disciplinary and interdisciplinary research; strengthening capability for research, innovation and knowledge exchange; and providing an agile response to emergencies where there is an urgent research or on-the-ground need. The fund is managed by the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and delivered through nine partners.
About the Newton Fund
The Newton Fund builds research and innovation partnerships with 17 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America to support economic development and social welfare, tackle global challenges and develop talent and careers. It has a total UK Government investment of £735 million up until 2021. The fund is managed by BEIS and delivered by UK and international partners.
Press release
Project outcome
This project is ongoing, due to complete in February 2022.