Francisca Okafor is a registered nurse and midwife in Nigeria. She currently serves as the director of nursing (chief nursing officer) in the nursing division of the Federal Ministry of Health in Abuja, where she advises the government on nursing issues and creates and oversees nursing policies and programs across Nigeria’s 58 federal tertiary hospitals. She also represents the Ministry of Health on the Board of Nursing and Midwifery Council. She also serves as a liaison with national nursing associations, coordinating with nursing directors at a sub-national level. In addition, Francisca collaborates with international organizations such as the World Health Organization, USAID, and UNICEF. Francisca earned a Master of Public Health in Health Services Management and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Calabar.
Applied Project Title: Implementation of the Nursing Component of the National Surgical, Obstetric, Anesthesia and Nursing Plan (NSOANP): Building the Capacity of Peri-Operative Nurses for Cesarean Section
Nigeria has a severe shortage of health care professionals who provide surgical care, including nurses, which means most people who need surgical care do not receive it. In response, the government created the National Surgical, Obstetric, Anesthesia and Nursing Plan (NSOANP) to integrate these four areas of care into the national health system. Okafor became a certified Trainer in the Federal Ministry of Health’s Training the Trainers Program to provide safe surgical, obstetrics, anesthesia nursing care in primary and secondary health facilities. Okafor’s project developed strategies to implement the NSOANP’s nursing component through capacity development, mentoring and supervision of the nursing workforce involved in providing cesarean sections in clinics and hospitals across Nigeria. Okafor believes these strategies will result in increased surgical coverage, recruitment and retention of adequate numbers of nurses, build their skills in cesarean section management, and support advanced participation of nurses along the surgical care spectrum in Nigeria.