Finland Southern Africa Midwifery Education

About the project

The Finland Southern Africa Midwifery Education (FAME) project is coordinated by Novia University of Applied Science (Novia UAS) in cooperation with the University of Venda (UNIVEN) in South Africa, and the University of Zambia (UNZA) in Zambia, with the aim to enhance students’ and teachers’ global knowledge, competences and intercultural skills through knowledge sharing in education practices. There are three focus areas of the cooperation which are capacity building, high-risk childbearing and maternal mental health, to enhance reducing maternal and perinatal mortality, and increase well-being and health of infants and mothers in all three countries. Capacity building includes learning about each others education systems, especially midwifery education including curriculums and health care systems. Theories and models are included in high-risk childbearing and maternal mental health.

In Zambia and South Africa, maternal mortality and perinatal mortality are high and both countries face challenges in this matter. Finland on the other hand, has one of the lowest maternity and child mortality rates in the world and education is playing an important part in achieving this. Furthermore, Finland is known for its successful welfare system and its quality education system with innovative pedagogical approaches, such as the active use of simulation in education. This project will therefore provide grounds for benchmarking and sharing of best practices in the areas of maternal health and well-being education.

Finland is becoming culturally diverse and educational institutions need to prepare students to be able to work in an intercultural environment. Therefore, there is a need to strengthen global competences by for instance expanding the partnerships for education in health outside the Nordic and European regions.