SDG 3 Working with the WHO and regional partners across the Pacific Region to improve health outcomes

Project summary

UTS was recently named the Secretariat for the Global Network for WHO Collaborating Centres in Nursing and Midwifery and will now serve a four-year term to drive engagement and collaboration across the Western Pacific and Global Network to improve health of individuals and diverse communities locally and globally through leadership and excellence in nursing education, research, practice, and service. 

Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre, UTS Professor Michele Rumsey, notes the appointment reinforces UTS’s long history connecting leaders across public health, nursing, and midwifery to achieve the WHO’s vision of Health for All. The WHO Collaborating Centre is currently working on a number of projects in partnership with nurses and midwives across the Pacific region. 

One project currently underway in Papua New Guinea is looking to improve the quality of health care by strengthening the health education programs on offer. In PNG, 72% of the country’s professional health workforce is comprised of nurses and community health workers and they are integral to reaching the nation’s health outcomes. The existing curricula for these workers were largely developed in the late 1990s and are no longer fit for purpose as they do not meet current education and clinical best practice.

To best support PNG’s health workforce meet its future health needs, the WHO Collaborating Centre has been working in close partnership with the National Department of Health as well as other key national and regional stakeholders to review, develop and implement up-to-date and evidence-based curricula for nurses and community health workers. The program has been funded by the WHO and the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. 

For more information see this website.

Project timeline

2022 - 2026

SDG targets addressed by this project

Good health and wellbeing:

3.1 - By 2030, reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births.

3.2 - By 2030, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1,000 live births and under-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live births.

 

Quality Education:

4.3 - By 2030 ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university.

4. 7 - By 2030 ensure all learners acquire knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including among others through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship, and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.

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