(Wiley, 2021) Saralegui Gainza, Amaia; Soto Ruiz, María Nelia; Escalada Hernández, Paula; Arregui Azagra, Adriana; García Vivar, Cristina; San Martín Rodríguez, Leticia; Ciencias de la Salud; Osasun Zientziak
Aim: to analyse the trends of density rates of nurses and midwives per population in
sub-Saharan Africa over the period from 2004 to 2016.
Background: nursing, the largest health care workforce, is actively contributing to
the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. The African continent is one of the most affected areas by the differences in the density of nurses and midwives indicator.
Methods: joinpoint regression analysis was applied to identify significant changes in
trends of the density of nurses and midwives from the 50 countries of sub-Saharan
Africa.
Results: from 2004 to 2013, the density of nurses and midwives in sub-Saharan
Africa increased significantly from 5.6 to 12.44 per 10,000 population, although it
exhibited a increasing trend of a magnitude of 8.3% until 2013 that does not continue
from that year.
Conclusions: only seven countries show an increasing trend, although in the case of
the rest, they do not present any trend that suggests a change in this indicator in the
short term.
Implications for Nursing Management: from a macrolevel nursing management
point of view, our study shows the importance of implementing actions that contribute
to the increase of the nursing workforce in Africa, essential to achieve the
Sustainable Development Goals.
