M-learning gives Kenyan nurses scalable continuing education

Amref Health Africa ramps up Jibu – Swahili for “answer” – a mobile nursing education app with support from the Elsevier Foundation.

There is “no health without a workforce,” states a 2013 World Health Organization report on human resources for health. Common challenges faced by the health workforce in developing countries include acute shortages, skills-mix imbalances, retention, motivation, and limited access to education and training. Despite research demonstrating a clear link between health workforce density and the improvement of key health indicators, the health workforce is all too often overlooked. Many developing countries are now also faced with the “double burden of disease,” fighting both the familiar communicable diseases such as malaria and the growing incidence of non-communicable diseases  caused by changes in lifestyle.

To tackle these challenges, policy makers are adopting innovative approaches such as distance learning and the use of technology. Amref Health Africa, an international African organization based in Kenya, has been using the technology of the day to build the capacity of health workers across sub-Saharan Africa through channels such as radio, eLearning and mobile learning, known as m-learning.

Read the full article by Diana Mukami about the M-learning:

• Elsevier Connect, “M-learning gives Kenyan nurses scalable continuing education”, 18 February 2016