The present description is concerned with highlighting about a nurse association of a country which is a member of International Council of Nurses (ICN). ICN represents nearly 130 national nurse associations that cover 16 million nurses globally (International council of Nurses,2013). Here, Kenya is one among the listed ICN member countries. Kenya has National Nurses Association of Kenya (NNAK) as its authentic nursing association which is affiliated to ICN (NNA-Kenya,2013).
The purpose of NNAK is to get recognized as world class health professional association that provides services to Kenyan community development by responding to their needs. Its mission is that by representing all Kenyan nurses it would like to facilitate a) nurse’s socio economic developments and b) nursing practice and leadership perfection (NNA-Kenya,2013). As such, NNAK intends to accomplish this mission via quality nursing education and research in association with efficient collaborators. Especially, NNAK would like to offer training to nursing and public health practitioners who have relevant expertise with a capability in health care delivery in multiple settings. It aims to facilitate high level clinical practice, carry out health research with a special emphasis on planning and policy making (NNA-Kenya,2013).
NNAK is significantly influencing the health and healthcare of Kenyan people through its various projects/ chapters as it is attempting to address certain global health concerns. For instance, NNAK’s Heishma project aims to improve health care conditions of women by lessening disrespect and abuse (D&A) during labor and delivery. As a part of this, it recommends staffing of midwives in maternity units and improved working condition through efficient collaboration among health providers (NNA-Kenya,2013). So, women attending maternal units could overcome unnecessary anxiety or depression and could expect a friendly support from health care provider.
Jacobsen (2009) described that inequalities and inequities do exist at many levels of health care in terms of differences between sexes, rich and poor, one population and the other. This could also indicate that NNAK’s Heishma project is fighting for Health inequities or disparities that could influence the health care system of Kenya.
NNAK’s infection control nurse’s chapter intended to facilitate patient safety is influencing the society at health facility and community settings with the involvement of health workers. According to World Health Organization (WHO), infectious diseases constitute one of the cause of death (Jacobsen,2009). Here, global health is influenced by development of vaccines and novel therapeutic strategies to avoid infections (Jacobsen,2009). NNAK’s infection control policy appears to coincide with global health objectives with its patient safety programs.
Mental health chapter is intended to facilitate mental health and wellness of entire Kenyan population. This chapter is also much focused on reducing mental illness impact like stigma effects at the individual and community level, and facilitating rehabilitation of individuals with mental defects into the society (NNA-Kenya,2013).
Finally, NNAK could be comparable to American Nurse Association (ANA). To say, both of the associations’ goals are to render improved health care services to people.
For instance, ANA would like to improve nursing profession through high nursing practice standards from the view point of realistic and positive nursing (ANA,2013). However, NNAK appears to have information scarcity with regard to continuing professional development ethics, heath information technology (HIT), ethics, policy and advocacy. This could be identified as limitation of NNAK when compared to ANA.
Therefore, it can be concluded that national nursing associations and their affiliations with important international agencies are essential to face the global healthcare challenges. NNAK needs further assistance and improvement.
References
American Nurse Association (ANA):Nursing World. (2013). Web.
International council of Nurses.(2013). Web.
Jacobsen, K.H.(2009). Introduction to global health. 2nd edition.