Eswatini hosts 15th biennial ECSACON Conference

The Kingdom of Eswatini has once again hosted the East, Central and Southern Africa College of Nursing (ECSACON) delegates for the 15th Biennial Scientific Conference and 7th Quadrennial General Assembly.

The conference kicked off on a high note in Manzini with delegates from 16 Eastern, Central and Southern African countries including Uganda, South Africa, Tanzania, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Seychelles, and the hosts Eswatini, Botswana and Lesotho. The conference was last held in the Kingdom in August 1998, under the theme: ‘Improving Adolescent Health: Nurses and Midwives Working in Partnership with Communities’ and was officiated by His Majesty King Mswati III. This was one of the most memorable events where the country witnessed experts in nursing and midwifery science sharing scientific knowledge and best practices aimed at improving the health of our people.

During the official opening of the 15th Biennial Scientific Conference and 7th Quadrennial General Assembly, Eswatini Acting Prime Minister, Senator Themba Masuku acknowledged the tremendous strides that African countries have made in addressing adolescent health issues which, because of HIV/AIDS, suffered a setback in the early 2000s until the discovery of Antiretroviral drugs which became a solution to the HIV burden. Masuku reiterated that the extraordinary commitment, selflessness, passion, nonpartisanship, and dedication demonstrated by Nurses and Midwives in addressing health challenges faced by communities and meeting Regional and Global targets cannot be over emphasised.

He added that the Kingdom of Eswatini, just like other countries in the ECSA region, is committed to attaining Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and that nurses and midwives are essential to achieving (UHC) through Primary Health Care.

“You are often the first healthcare staff to interact with patients and sometimes the only health professional a patient will ever see. You provide care, support, and treatment for the sick, the injured, the dying and support their families and communities,” he said.

Masuku noted that the change in disease burden and emerging new diseases, such as COVID-19 has highlighted the need to strengthen how healthcare is delivered in the ECSA region and the world at large. He further stated that this also challenges the nursing and midwifery professions to embrace science and innovation as they constantly search for solutions for the new and complex challenges they face in the production of Nurses and Midwives (education), Leadership and Management, research as well as clinical practice.

The Acting PM also noted that the sub-Saharan Africa region has grown economically over the last two decades with an impressive growth of over 300% rate of total GDP since 2000. This growth, he noted,  has been accompanied by increases in health spending and significant gains in health outcomes with improvement to healthcare and health outcomes being directly supported by the regions’ economic growth. Despite the progresses, Masuku added, the region still struggles with the highest disease burden in the world, including an emerging dual burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases. “This calls for investing in the Nursing and Midwifery professions if we are to attain the Universal Health Coverage as well as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the same vein, the COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected the nursing education and practice. This pandemic has exposed gaps and vulnerabilities of health systems and has presented important lessons for future preparedness,” he said, adding that the  conference, therefore, comes at an opportune time to share lessons learned and learn from one another to contribute to attaining universal health coverage and the sustainable development goals. “We cannot succeed without each other, and we need to engage with respect and dignity whilst seeking guidance from the norms and principles that have evolved through time, experience, and collective wisdom”.