The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to harmonising nursing and midwifery training standards across ECOWAS member states to improve healthcare quality, support professional mobility, and strengthen regional health systems.
Prof. Muhammad Pate, Minister of Health and Social Welfare, said this on Thursday in Abuja at a regional workshop on harmonised accreditation criteria for nursing and midwifery training institutions.
Pate, represented by Dr Dakum Londji, Nigeria’s Liaison Officer to WAHO/African Union at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, declared the workshop open.
The West African Health Organisation (WAHO) organised the workshop to finalise regional accreditation criteria for nursing and midwifery training institutions.
He stated that the initiative would strengthen professional standards, enhance regional collaboration, and improve healthcare delivery by ensuring nursing and midwifery institutions provide quality education and produce competent graduates.
He noted that nurses and midwives are the backbone of healthcare systems, and their knowledge, compassion, and dedication are essential to improving population health and well-being. He said harmonised accreditation standards would ensure training institutions meet established educational requirements and produce graduates with the knowledge, skills, and competencies needed to provide safe, effective healthcare. Pate described accreditation as more than a regulatory requirement, stating it is a strategic investment in patient safety, quality healthcare, and the future of health systems in West Africa. a.
He added that common accreditation standards across ECOWAS member states would promote professional mobility, strengthen regional cooperation, and enhance public confidence in healthcare services.
The minister emphasised that investing in nursing and midwifery education is essential to building healthier communities, safer healthcare systems, and a stronger future for West Africa.
He commended WAHO leadership, ECOWAS member state representatives, and other stakeholders for their efforts to strengthen nursing, midwifery, and health professional education in the region.
Pate urged participants to work together to achieve the workshop’s objectives, emphasising that unity and collaboration are essential for sustainable progress in regional healthcare development and professional training.
Dr Bosede Arogundade, WAHO Professional Officer for Nursing and Midwifery, stated that the organisation is working to harmonise training curricula and establish common accreditation standards across ECOWAS member states.
Arogundade made this statement during a presentation on WAHO’s efforts to harmonise nursing and midwifery education, explaining that the initiative aims to improve training quality and address disparities across countries.
She said the workshop aims to review, harmonise, and finalise minimum regional accreditation criteria for nursing and midwifery institutions to promote quality assurance and comparable educational standards across member states.
According to her, the initiative is part of WAHO’s mandate to strengthen health workforce development, improve professional recognition, and facilitate the movement of qualified health workers across member states.
Arogundade said the harmonisation process is rooted in regional commitments to strengthen cooperation in education, training, employment, and human resource development across West Africa.
She cited Article 60 of the revised ECOWAS Treaty, which encouraged member states to cooperate in developing human resources and harmonising education and training policies and programmes across the region.
She added that the treaty encouraged exchanges among educational institutions, recognition of academic and professional qualifications, and establishment of regional centres of excellence in specialised disciplines across West Africa.
According to her, these provisions supported mutual recognition of professional qualifications, facilitating freedom of movement, residence and establishment for skilled health workers across the region and its member stArogundade said the initiative is increasingly important due to persistent health workforce shortages, differences in training standards, and ongoing brain drain across West Africa.ntShe explained that the process gained momentum in 2006 after a special resolution of the 59th World Health Assembly to strengthen human resources for health across member states rapidly.stShe said ECOWAS health ministers later adopted a resolution calling for harmonised curricula for health professionals across member states, laying the foundation for WAHO’s regional programme and future interventions. ntions.
Arogundade said WAHO began implementing the programme in 2007 with a workshop on diploma and certificate equivalencies, followed by a regional health workforce assessment meeting in 2008.
She said the first multidisciplinary curriculum harmonisation exercise took place in 2009, with the initial review completed in 2010 and subsequent reviews conducted every five years across participating countries. Nursing and midwifery education initially faced significant disparities, including differences in qualification titles, duration of study, admission requirements and regulatory arrangements across member states and training institutions.
She said that some couShe noted that some countries lacked regulatory bodies for the professions, making it difficult to establish consistent standards and ensure comparable nursing and midwifery qualifications across the sub-region. They harmonised basic and post-basic nursing and midwifery curricula, establishing equivalencies between Francophone and Anglophone training programmes despite differences in their educational structures and systems.
According to her, the process established equivalence between six-year training programmes in Francophone countries and five-year programmes in Anglophone countries, promoting comparable professional standards across the region.
She said thShe said the initiative also identified essential competencies nurses and midwives need to provide safe, effective, high-quality care across various healthcare settings in the region. These competencies include managing clinical conditions, supporting community health interventions, applying nursing and midwifery research methods, and providing preventive, promotional, and rehabilitative care for mothers and children.e Arogundade said the framework also emphasises managing medical and surgical conditions and providing culturally appropriate care during pregnancy, labour, and childbirth to improve outcomes for women and newborns. She emphasised that strengthening nursing and midwifery education is critical to reducing maternal and newborn deaths, especially given the ongoing burden of maternal mortality across West Africa. To her, properly trained nurses and midwives should be equipped to manage obstetric and neonatal emergencies, including postpartum haemorrhage, and provide timely interventions to save lives across communities.
She explained that WAHO’s harmonisation process began with a situational analysis to identify differences in national training systems and determine gaps requiring regional intervention.
She said the organisation later developed a common regional framework with stakeholders, including professional bodies, training institutions, regulatory authorities, and regional and international organisations.
Arogundade listed WAHO’s achievements as including minimum training benchmarks, equivalencies for nursing and midwifery qualifications, continuing professional development programmes, and e-learning opportunities for rural health workers. The organisation continued training trainers in critical intervention areas and developing implementation roadmaps to strengthen professional development, improve retention and reduce health worker migration across member states.
She said collaboration among member states has facilitated exchanges of skills, knowledge, teaching resources, and equipment, while encouraging partnerships between public and private institutions involved in health workforce development.
According to her, the harmonisation initiative has become a flagship regional integration programme, with WAHO increasingly sharing its experience with stakeholders interested in harmonising health professional curricula.
Despite progress, she identified inadequate funding, limited training and retraining opportunities, workforce attrition, and ongoing challenges in motivating and retaining health professionals as major issues facing member states.
She added that further harmonisation of postgraduate specialities is necessary. Limited financial support from member states and a shortage of development partners continue to constrain health workforce capacity development. WAHO intended to train more health professionals, maximise existing training facilities, strengthen South-South collaboration and support countries implementing harmonised curricula across nursing and midwifery institutions throughout West Africa.
She said the organisation will also advocate for improved employment packages for health workers in rural and hard-to-reach communities while evaluating the implementation of harmonised curricula across member states.
She urged stakeholders to support the finalisation and implementation of regional accreditation criteria, emphasising that common standards will strengthen quality assurance and improve comparability in nursing and midwifery education. She said the workshop’s objectives included reviewing proposed accreditation criteria, ensuring consistency and applicability across member states, and consolidating minimum standards for nursing and midwifery training institutions throughout the region.
She expressed optimism that the workshop will produce a harmonised, finalised accreditation framework for dissemination and adoption by nursing and midwifery training institutions throughout the ECOWAS region.
She reaffirmed WAHO’s commitment to strengthening health workforce training, development, motivation, and retention, adding that regional cooperation will improve healthcare quality and advance universal health coverage across West Africa.
Arogundade called on stakeholders to sustain collaboration in nursing and midwifery education, noting that coordinated action is essential to professional mobility, knowledge exchange, and stronger regional health systems across member states.
