This partnership aims to develop a BSc. program in nursing through a North-South institutional health partnership (IHP) collaboration between the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and Ahfad University for Women (AUW). This is in keeping with the strategic objective 6 in the National Health Sector Strategic Plan II, (2012-2016) which aims to “develop a well performing, stable and equitably distributed workforce with an appropriate mix of skills to meet agreed health sector need” in Sudan with a particular focus on nurses.
The goal of this project is to promote undergraduate nursing education at AUW with the reciprocal exposures of healthcare professions from Ireland and Sudan to different contexts of the countries health determinants and systems. To reach the project goal, three objectives are formulated which are:
• To develop a BSc. degree curriculum in nursing addressing the needs of the Sudanese patients for quality healthcare with emphasis on international standards.
• To capacitate clinical training of students in specialized fields of nursing pertaining to the different contexts and approaches in Ireland and Sudan.
• To avail of learning resources supporting nursing education including Nursing Simulation Laboratory.
The overarching outcomes being targeted by this project are to aid in Sudan’s stated objectives in relation to Sustainable Development Goals, principally SDG 3, “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.” This is with particular reference to the targets on reducing the maternal mortality, neonatal mortality and under-5 mortality ratios beside ending the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases (IAEG-SDGs, 2016).
