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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Mary Schaal, RN, EdD1, Molly A. Rose, PhD1, and Ann Doherty, RN, JD, PhD2. (1) College of Health Professions, Department of Nursing, Thomas Jefferson University, 130 S. 9th Street Suite 1215, Philadelphia, PA 19107, 215-503-8390, Mary.Schaal@mail.tju.edu, (2) Catholic Medical Mission Board, 10 W. 17th Street, New York City, NY 10011
The definition of public health nursing (APHA Public Health Nursing Section) will be used to discuss a recent public health nursing experience in South Africa. Of the 4.2 million people living with AIDS in South Africa, 4.1 million are adults between the ages of 15 and 49 with 2.3 million being women and 95,000 children under the age of 15. KwaZulu/Natal has an HIV prevalence rate of 33% for women attending antenatal clinics. An interdisciplinary team, primarily made up of public health nurses, assessed the capacity of grassroots clinics in South Africa to implement and evaluate a maternal-to-child HIV transmission prevention program. U.S. public health nurses, physicians, a South African public health nurse, and a KwaZulu/Natal nurse midwife comprised the team of health professionals who completed the assessment. Personnel at clinics, hospitals, orphanages, health education centers, social services agencies, and Parliament participated in the assessment. Nurse midwives, administrators of clinics, official health directors, and physicians involved in HIV care and prevention also were interviewed. Key concepts in the PHN definition statement, such as ongoing assessment, coordinated interventions, care management, working with and through relevant community leaders, interest groups, employers, families and individuals; and through involvement in relevant social and political action, will be discussed in relationship to this South African assessment project directed at a population (women at risk of having an infant infected with HIV).
Learning Objectives:
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.