By Christina Orlovsky, senior staff writer
The International Council of Nurses (ICN) has long been an
advocate for children’s issues around the globe. In 2000, the organization
launched the Girl Child Project, which officially addresses policy issues
affecting urban girls ages 10 to 14. This year, the ICN took its efforts one
step further, reaching out to orphaned daughters of deceased nurse colleagues in
developing countries through a new initiative called the Girl Child Education
Fund.
Together with its sister organization, the Florence
Nightingale International Foundation (FNIF), the ICN aims to increase access to
education for girls orphaned by their nurse parents, primarily in countries in
sub-Saharan Africa, where the AIDS epidemic has taken a tremendous toll on
health care workers.
According to Sheila Hayes, ICN coordinator of the Girl Child
Project, this is the area in greatest need of immediate assistance.
“The education crisis—fewer than two-thirds of children in
sub-Saharan Africa are enrolled in primary school—is made worse by the impact of
AIDS and the high concentration of orphans,” Hayes explained.
In fact, the ICN reported that there are close to 16 million
children orphaned by HIV/AIDS; by 2010, it is expected that one in five children
in the most seriously affected regions in Africa will be orphaned by the
disease.
Other regions of concentration for the new ICN initiative
include Southern Asia, Oceania and Western Asia, where natural disasters, like
the 2004 tsunami, often keep girls from enrolling in school.
Hayes explained that nurses’ roles in children’s issues are
important throughout the world, but particularly in these developing areas,
where they are the primary health care providers for the population. It is only
natural, therefore, to look to nursing professionals for assistance when their
colleagues have fallen victim to the diseases they are responsible for treating.
The initial courses of action of the Girl Education Child Fund
are to identify national nursing associations in African countries to determine
areas of greatest need, and then to secure long-term funding for the program.
Funds gathered by the ICN initiative will be used to provide uniforms, books,
school fees and daily meals for orphaned daughters of nurses.
By getting nursing associations worldwide interested in the
initiative, the ICN will be one step closer to fulfilling its goal of advocating
for young girls’ education, a commitment that Hayes called a great investment
for the future.
“Undoubtedly, our greatest hope for the fund is to grant this
most vulnerable population of orphaned girls with the education that is their
basic human right and tool for lifelong personal empowerment, healthy
development and economic security,” Hayes asserted.
“The fund also grants nurses everywhere a chance to
demonstrate their professional and personal solidarity for colleagues in the
developing world, who continue to work in the face of intensive health care
demands, low pay, extremely difficult and stressful working conditions and the
stigma associated with working with and for HIV/AIDS patients,” she added. “By looking after
the daughters of our fallen colleagues, we can play a real role in securing a
healthier future for all.”
For more information, visit the ICN or FNIF Web sites.
© 2005. AMN Healthcare, Inc. All Rights Reserved.