NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, August 29, 2014

6,000 Zambian youth will receive nursing training through an e-learning program developed by ChildFund International, a global child development and protection organization, and the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF), in partnership with The MasterCard Foundation. The Zambia Nurse and Life Skills Training Program will offer Zambian youth the opportunity to train in the field of nursing through e-learning and help address the shortage of trained health professionals in the country.

Currently, Zambia does not have enough human resources to meet health care demands. At present, the nurse population ratio stands at 1 nurse for every 1,500 people, which is far lower than the World Health Organization’s recommended nurse-to-population ratio of 1 to 700. The major cause for the shortage is the limited capacity of nursing schools that can train students to meet the growing health care needs of the general population.