Unique, different, exhilarating and heart warming is the best description for the 2023 International Nurses’ Day (IND) Commemoration. NONM president, Shouts Simeza, said this is the best IND celebration he has ever witnessed.

Many who attended said so too. If you were there, you would even tell it yourself; your own heart would be warmed in response to the music by the Health Education Unit Band and other activities of the day and you wouldn’t resist standing up and gracefully moving your leg a little bit.

On one side of the camp, outreach health services (mobile clinics) were in progress as the commemorations continued. Thus the people dwelling at the camp and nearby villages had an opportunity to access medical check-ups for cancer, BP, Diabetes, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and other services right at their doorstep. A crowning activity of the day was handing over food, clothes, masks and buckets worth millions of Kwachas to the brothers and sisters affected by cyclone Freddy.  Their joy could not be hidden. The camp was Katuma, the T/A Nogwe, the district Mulanje. 

Apparently, the main objective of the event was met. According to Simeza the celebrations were moved from Mzuzu to Mulanje to cheer up people who were affected by cyclone Freddy early this year.

He said: “Being a day of celebration we recalled that our colleagues, our brethren here in Mulanje like other parts of the southern region, went into misery because of the cyclone Freddy impact. So, we said let’s celebrate with them in their camps, so we chose this site to come and celebrate and cheer them up. normally, we would have been in Blantyre, we would have been in Mzuzu, Karonga, you know, elsewhere.”

Weighing in on the theme for the day, Our Nurses. Our Future., Simeza indicated that it is a strong theme that is very meaningful all over the world.

He said: “When we are talking about this theme, the literal meaning is that Malawi will not grow in the health sector without nurses. So, nurses cannot be left behind. We have Universal Health Coverage (UHC), 2030. So, if we don’t have nurses doing what they are supposed to do, being motivated, being supported, we won’t achieve Universal Health Coverage.”

Minister of Health, Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda, who was the guest of honour at the event hailed nurses and midwives for the important and selfless work which they are doing in the country. 

She said: “I’m always very grateful because I’ve always been saying that nurses and midwives are the backbone of the health sector; nurses are doing so much more. We are so proud of them for the work that they are doing. It’s not a very easy work. You are aware that we have been through Cholera for the last 12 months, now the numbers are going down but that success is because of the work which our nurses and midwives have been doing.”

“In terms of maternal death the numbers are getting much much better meaning more women are able to deliver and the child is also alive and this is because of the work of midwives as well,” she added. 

Chiponda also said that the government is aware that there is a high vacancy rate in the ministry of health but was quick to say that recruitment is ongoing. She also lamented that at times recruitment processes have not been following proper procedures.

She said: “Unfortunately, sometimes recruitment hasn’t been as procedural, we are still looking at recruitment processes, we are in talks with the associations, but also the nurses’ council as well which is responsible for the professional conduct of nurses and midwives.”

Chiponda also expressed gratitude to partners from the private sector, such as UNICEF, World Health Organisation and World Bank, who have helped the government to recruit nurses and midwives.