Fewer student nurses fell pregnant at Parirenyatwa: Report

Southern Africa directors and best practices forum recently, director of nursing services, Mrs Cynthia Chasokela, said no pregnancy has been recorded this year at the school of nursing.
Five students fell pregnant in 2010. Mrs Chasokela attributed the decline in the number of students falling pregnant to the introduction of the youth friendly family planning services.
“These services are specifically for the students. Previously, these students were supposed to get family planning services from the institution itself, which was not user friendly to them as students,” Mrs Chasokela said.
She said the approach had an impact on the reduction of pregnancies.
“Harare and Chitungwiza hospitals are just starting and we have not yet started seeing the results of the approach, but it has worked very well for Parirenyatwa because we started it at that school,” she said.
Mrs Chasokela said they started off with Parirenyatwa School of Nursing because it is the largest training institution in Zimbabwe, catering for about 800 students at each given time.
Meanwhile, the Director’s Joint Consultative Meeting and the Best Practices forum ended with recommendations to the Ministers of Health in the ECSA Health Community.
ECSA-HC director general Dr Josephine Kibari-Mbae said Uganda, the DJCC chair, would then take up the recommendations to the Health Ministers Conference slatted for November this year.
Head of Zimbabwe delegation, Dr Davis Dhlakama, the principal director for policy, planning, monitoring and evaluation in the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, commended the gathering as an organ with power to influence policy changes in the health sector.