In
the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa, 36.5 percent of pregnant
women are HIV positive. Despite South Africa’s level of economic
development and health care infrastructure, the country still has a
maternal mortality rate of 230 per 100,000 live births.
In response, MLI is partnering with St. Mary’s Hospital,
Marianhill, near Durban, and with the Catholic Medical Mission Board
of New York, to bring the Safe Passages training model to the Southern
region of Africa. The first training will be held in April of 2004.
As
well as providing Safe Passages training, MLI is discussing with St.
Mary’s Hospital and others the possibility of an African Parish
Nurse Training Center. If
realized, nurses from throughout Africa would come for training in the
parish nurse model and would benefit from St. Mary’s reputation as a
“center of excellence” for HIV care. Also of significance would be
St. Mary’s nursing school faculty and the school’s proximity to
Swaziland, where our very successful three-year parish nurse program
is currently on going. Once nurses have completed their training in
the core parish nurse program, they would then train with the
Swaziland nurses as part of their community outreach education.
We
are hopeful that these unique partnerships and programs will result in
an unprecedented level of “up scaling” to deliver antiretroviral
medications and palliative care in where AIDS continues to take a
deadly toll.