Tanzania mission December 2022: Sumve nursing college


We also visited Sumve nursing college, where one student, now in his final year, is on a SAHFA scholarship. He was an assistant nurse in Kibara when we did our first pilot there and was an active user and promotor of the app. However, as his father passed away, he had no resources to continue his nursing and midwifery training so we agreed to do so in gratitude for his work with the app in Kibara and also because the real shift towards patient care enhancing use of a digital communication tool comes from young medical staff – nurses, midwives, doctors – getting used to the app as an extension of their direct outreach to patients and as a means to share patient information with colleagues.

The Assistant Principal of the Nursing School was a very efficient lady (in the picture in the middle, in blue skirt and white blouse). We marvelled at her grip on everything. She also told us of her worry about four very gifted students who had to stop their training because of no financial support. Could we help them like we helped the first one? Taken by surprise, I said we had to think about it.

The next day we met again and we agreed. I was too deeply moved by her sincerity to refuse. The students didn’t know she was going to ask this. We agreed on condition all students on a scholarship paid by SAHFA were given time to also help promote the JamboMama! app with the pregnant women and the community health workers connected to Sumve Hospital (the school is on the hospital’s compound). Possibly it could be turned into a field assignment for their course. Our representative could occasionally give a lecture with a demo about our app at the school. This would give an enormous boost to the mainstreaming of our app and it gives us extra volunteers for the spread of the app at Sumve health district. 

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