UN co-sponsors project to improve health care for refugees in Africa

Health professionals working with hundreds of thousands of refugees in Africa will benefit from the latest nursing knowledge and training under an initiative co-sponsored by the United Nations, beginning next month.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the pharmaceutical company Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) and the International Council of Nurses (ICN) have teamed up to launch a Nursing Library scheme, delivering 50 ICN/MSD Nursing Libraries for Refugee Health to health workers in Tanzania and Zambia, which together host some 770,000 refugees.

“The libraries will include the latest nursing/health information and provide training to better meet refugee health needs,” UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told a news briefing in Geneva today.

“It's hoped the programme can expand over the next five years to other refugee settings across Africa, improving the quality of health care provided to the continent's almost 3 million refugees,” he added.

The ICN is a federation of national nurses’ associations representing nurses in more than 128 countries.