Swaziland nurse receives international award for HIV work
A nurse from Swaziland who founded a centre to tackle the country’s HIV epidemic has received a prestigious international award.
Phetsile Mamba received an excellence in global HIV nursing award from the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC) and was commended for raising the standard and level of professionalism in HIV treatment and prevention.
In 2006 she set up the International Council of Nurses’ wellness centre for healthcare workers in Swaziland’s capital Manzini.
Swaziland has the world’s highest level of HIV with 26% of the population infected, meaning healthcare workers are overworked.
The wellness centre aims to maintain the health and wellbeing of healthcare workers and offers an HIV testing programme, stress management and counselling services.
More recently it has launched a TB training programme for nurses.
It also trains kitchen, maintenance and cleaning staff in HIV and TB awareness.
The centre was established in partnership with organisations including the Danish Nurses Organisation.
Recently similar centres have been set up in Lesotho, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia.
The ANAC award is given to an outstanding nurse, who lives and works in a resource-limited setting and whose work has made a significant impact on his or her community or colleagues.