The Johns Hopkins University
School of Nursing,
in collaboration with the World Health Organization and
other partners, is today launching the Global Alliance for
Nursing and Midwifery Community of Practice. The new online
initiative has been designed to offer nurses and midwives
throughout the world — despite their geographic
location and physical settings — a forum for sharing
ideas, best practices and new knowledge.
The Community of Practice employs an electronic
communication system that is specifically designed for use
in remote and/or low bandwidth settings and requires only
an e-mail address in order to participate.
"We can use the system to reach isolated nurses,
midwives and health workers who are desperate to
communicate with others around the world," said Patricia
Abbott, co-director of the school's WHO/PAHO Collaborating
Center for Knowledge, Information Management and Sharing,
the unit that serves as the secretariat for the GANM CoP.
"E-mail is seeping into even the most remote of places
— from Internet kiosks in the jungles of Peru and
Bolivia, to the African bush, at the top of mountains and
in neighborhoods without running water."
Today's launch will feature an online global
discussion forum analyzing the contribution of nurses and
midwives to health and the achievement of the United
Nations Millennium Development Goals. Through a
seven-country video conference, the forum will be
introduced by Her Royal Highness Princess Muna al-Hussein
of Jordan and His Excellency Dr. S. Darwazeh, minister of
health of Jordan. Guest experts around the world from WHO,
ministries of health, nursing and midwifery associations
and other organizations will host and moderate the
discussion.
The GANM CoP electronic communication system has been
developed with funding from the United States Agency for
International Development, United Nations Population Fund
and WHO. The project also is a component of the Information
and Knowledge for Optimal Health Project's Implementing
Best Practices Knowledge Gateway at the Johns Hopkins
University Bloomberg
School of Public Health.
In addition to the Bloomberg School,
JHPIEGO is among
the partners involved in the initiative.
To learn more about the GANM CoP, or to become a
member, go to
my.ibpinitiative.org/public/ganm.
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