History
The South Pacific Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers Alliance (SPCNMOA) began as the South Pacific Chief Nursing Officers Alliance (SPCNOA) formed in 2004, incorporating Midwifery Officers in 2006. The SPCNMOA was established after the 2004 WHO Summit on Emerging Diseases: Lessons from SARS held at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), and the WHO Forum for Government Chief Nurses. The aim was to create a formal network to strengthen nursing leadership and the delivery of primary health care in the South Pacific region through innovative nursing and midwifery models.
The World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Nursing, Midwifery, and Health Development at UTS (WHO CCNM UTS) was subsequently established and named the Secretariat of the SPCNMOA in 2008, supporting member countries and coordinating actions to achieve the vision and mission of SPCNMOA. WHO CCNM UTS has since undertaken more than 50 projects in 25 countries working towards Universal Health Coverage.
Work
Through the partnership between the World Health Organization Western Pacific Regional Office (WHO WPRO), SPCNMOA and WHO CCNM UTS, the Alliance aims to enhance nursing and midwifery effectiveness through promoting and improving population health in the region.
SPCNMOA intends to achieve this aim by raising the quality and relevance of nursing, midwifery and health leadership in health services, as well as nursing and midwifery education. This requires close collaboration between members as well as academic, regulatory and service partners through information sharing, capacity building, education and service projects, and research.
Teleconferences to discuss projects, regional issues and successes are held regularly throughout the year. SPCNMOA meets face-to-face every two years to discuss national and regional strategies for nursing and midwifery for the South Pacific in conjunction with the South Pacific Nurses Forum (SPNF), bringing together chief nursing and midwifery officers, and senior leaders in regulation and education to update, discuss and plan effective programs for the Pacific in regulation, education, legislation, and service delivery in the following areas:
- Transforming health workforce education in support of universal health coverage.
- Strengthening regional governmental networks to improve communication, strategic planning for improved health systems strengthening including primary health care and sustainable development goals (SDGs) for overall population health.
- Regional emergency and disaster preparedness in the face of public health threats, climate change, and funding possibilities associated with this.
- Maternal and child health.
- Non-communicable diseases.
- Antimicrobial resistance.
Regional Representation
SPCNMOA is represented at national, regional and global meetings to ensure the needs and priorities of South Pacific nurses and midwives are heard.
SPCNMOA has been recognized as an integral part of the Director of Clinical Services meeting. A general recommendation coming from these discussions are that the Directors of Clinical Services "acknowledge the need for a regional mechanism for nursing and midwifery to provide continuing professional development, capacity building for training, protocols and standards development."
The SPCNMOA has presented needs and priorities of the region’s nurses and midwives to the Pacific Health Ministers Meetings. Decisions from all these meetings are communicated to the annual WHO Regional Committee meeting consisting of representatives from the Region’s Member States and Associate Members. This feeds into the global WHO meetings at the World Health Assembly where world health strategic directions are developed.