Kwara state has low EmONC in health facilities and about 60% of EmONC is provided in private facilities. The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) has supported 3 public health facilities in each of the 16 LGAs of Kwara state to improve availability and quality of EmONC through EmONC training.

As with previous programmes, LSTM will continue to engage the professional medical and nursing/midwifery associations and regulatory bodies, to advocate for the recognition of EmONC training as a key component of continuous medical education. Specifically, under this new programme, LSTM will engage both national and state bodies to promote this and will facilitate ongoing stakeholder consultations to support the development of a framework to institute regular and mandatory training of maternity care providers in EmONC. An anticipated output of this intervention will be increased demand for regular and continuous EmONC continuous professional development opportunities for health care providers delivering maternity services.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) provides mandatory accredited Continuous Professional Development training, but there is no mandatory competency based EmONC CPD training for maternity care providers in Nigeria.

Goal of the programme

The goal of the programme is to establish a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for nursing and midwifery continuous education in EmONC Kwara state, that will increase the opportunities for appropriate CPD for maternity care providers in both public and private facilities in the state.

The programme will support the Nurses and Midwifery Council of Nigeria to build sustainable capacity for continuous nursing/midwifery education, consistent with expected competencies for skilled health personnel (ANC, intrapartum care, PNC, pregnancy loss and care and leadership).

Objectives of programme

• To conduct a needs assessment, engage with stakeholders and identify a host institution for CoE
• To prepare the identified centre of excellence in the host institution by refurbishing, equipping the CoE, identifying and training CPD coordinators.
• To establish a sustainable system for operating the CoE by aligning this with the current NMCN CPD system managed by the state MCPDP committee.
• To provide and quality assure CPD training at the CoE
• To evaluate the programme, provide programme accountability and dissemination