Nigerian nursing, midwifery college seeks to train local health care workers

BBC News reports on a $15 million college in northern Nigeria's Jigawa state that is working to train nurses and midwives. The first class of the three-year program is expected to graduate in September, and "[t]he hope is these new nurses and midwives will stay in Jigawa's villages once their training is complete, rather than drifting to towns and cities where the work is usually better paid," BBC notes, adding, "The college represents a start in addressing what has been a gaping lack of resources." Four years ago, there were 14 midwives trying to serve "the state's population of 4.5 million people" and "cover more than 600 small health centers," BBC continues. However, a British-funded project called Paths 2, which aims "to reduce the state's high level of preventable deaths among pregnant women," has helped facilitate the creation of training programs for local health care workers, the news service notes (Dreaper, 8/2).