The COVID Africa Action Network for Nurses & Nurse-Midwives launches a PPE crowdfunding campaign in solidarity with nurses and nurse-midwives fighting the coronavirus on the front lines in eastern and southern Africa. (Link to Crowdfunding site)

June 2020: Geneva, Kampala, Oslo, Tatamagouche, Mbabane, Edinburgh, Maseru, Paris, Nairobi, Toronto, Washington   In these tough times around the world, one group is particularly hard-hit by the COVID pandemic –  the nurses and nurse-midwives on the front lines in low-resource settings in eastern and southern Africa. They are too often working without personal protective equipment and finding themselves at great risk of infection and physical and psychological violence, all the while acting as the mainstay in stemming a menace threatening to overwhelm their communities and nations.  Hear the reality from a nurse in Eswatini.

Announcing the Protect Nurses. Save Lives campaign, Judith Oulton, former CEO of the International Council of Nurses and Network Chair, stated: “Harnessing the professionalism and resilience of tens of thousands of African nurses struggling to protect and care for their communities; the powerful advocacy of Stephen Lewis, former UN Envoy for HIV/AIDS and Co-Director of AIDS-Free World; the knowledge platform of our inaugural donor, Graham Hellier MBE, Chair of the World Continuing Education Alliance (WCEA); and the multinational group of HCWs and professionals that form the Covid Africa Action Network, we are proud to launch this campaign. We ask that you join us and contribute, to ensuring nurses and nurse-midwives are protected as they work to stop the virus and care for victims.”

All donations go directly, as modest grants, to on-the-ground projects for local production and provision of personal protective equipment in Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

The AAN Network supports several initiatives, including establishing evidence-based specifications for artisanal PPE, and live, online Q&A sessions linking doctors in China, who were first responders during the Wuhan stage of the pandemic, to healthcare professionals in Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda. AAN also works closely with WCEA, to deliver regularly updated COVID courses to nurses and nurse-midwives in low and medium-income countries free on the WCEA platform and app. 

For more information contact: Link to Crowdfunding Campaign site

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/africactionetwork

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/C19AAN

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/covid19aan/For further information: Linda Carrier-Walker