The Nursing and Midwifery Council, has launched its maiden journal dubbed: “The Numid Horizon, An International Journal of Nursing and Midwifery,” which features articles on health issues.

The journal provides Nursing and Midwifery practitioners with continuing education in academic and clinical science to support informed decision making, and educate practitioners about the values and processes in the profession. The journal also offers the platform for the academia and researchers as well as practitioners in various health institutions to place their research findings in public.

Speaking at the launch, Mr Kwaku Agyemang Manu, Minister of Health said the profession was best suited to observe and adjust treatments, medications and habits for patients, hence the need for research to influence current and future practice. He said nursing and midwifery research could provide specialised insight other healthcare research might miss.

He said research held nurses and midwives accountable to high professional standards which encouraged their growth. The Minister observed that the growth of the profession would depend on the ability of its members to build and share knowledge.

Mr Manu commended the Council for initiating a policy that allowed practitioners to conduct and publish research to tackle emerging issues and gain continuing professional development points to renew their license. He said the Ministry in collaboration with the Council and the health facilities had made efforts to make available well trained nurses and midwives to offer prompt and efficient health care services.

“The vision of government is to see that the right to health of all Ghanaians is granted through an established health sector with sustainable ability to deliver affordable, equitable and easily accessible healthcare,” he added. He explained that to realise this vision, the Ministry in partnership with other health organizations that would expand health promotion programmes, scale up disease prevention strategies and improve access to curative and emergency services through human resource and health infrastructure development.

Mr Manu said government was committed to providing Ghanaians with adequate and efficient healthcare facilities while committing resources into the training and practice of nurses and midwives. “Government requires from you the “yes we can” attitude and provision of guidance to clients along the right pathways to wellness”.

He commended the Council for the introduction of French and sign language as new courses for the training of nurses and midwives to expand care to cover impaired persons and those from neighboring Francophone countries. Mr Felix Nyante, Registrar of the Council, said his outfit intended to make the journal a regular publication and to use it to keep stakeholders in touch with new research findings and developments within the profession.

He said the Council had instituted programmes to prevent healthcare through community education and clean-up exercises. He said the Council would continue to work towards its mandate in ensuring quality healthcare delivery.