Stakeholders in the nursing and midwifery sector have welcomed a decision by the Nurses and Midwives Council of Malawi (NMCM) to phase out a three-year registered nurse and two-year upgrading registered nurse-midwife diploma programmes.
NMCM, mandated under the Nurses and Midwives Act to regulate nursing and midwifery training, education, practice and conduct in Malawi, has since communicated its decision to phase out the diploma programmes to training institutions, including the Ministry of Health.
But the council has, however, maintained the nursing and midwifery technician diploma programme as the only diploma-level training.
In a letter dated January 28 2025, the council’s registrar and chief executive officer Judith Chirembo said the decision was deliberated during NMCM’s 121st Session on September 17 2024 and based on stakeholder recommendations.
It says stakeholders were drawn from regulatory bodies, professional associations and unions, training institutions and policy and practice sectors within the nursing and midwifery profession.
A committee was formed to evaluate and assess the existing programmes.
Reads part of the letter: “The assessment revealed that despite differences in competence levels among nursing and midwifery technician, registered nurse and registered nurse and midwifery graduates, all cadres were recruited on the same grade in the job market, as all diploma qualifications were treated equally.
“However, from a professional standpoint, registered nurse and midwifery and nursing and midwifery technician graduates have distinct competence levels. Following a thorough cost-benefit analysis with key stakeholders, the task force recommended retaining the nursing and midwifery technician programme while phasing out the registered nurse and registered nurse and midwifery programmes.”
The council also determined that future professional upgrades should transition directly to bachelor of science programmes, rather than diploma programmes.
Training institutions offering the affected diploma programmes have since been advised that the current 2025 intake which is expected to graduate in 2028 will be the final cohort.
“NMCM acknowledges that this transition may raise questions and concerns. We remain committed to supporting all stakeholders through this change and are available to provide guidance and address any queries,” further reads the letter.
Association of Malawian Midwives president Keith Lipato in an interview on Tuesday said the decision is a step in the right direction.
He said: “This is good because the diploma programmes were bringing confusion since we also have the nursing and midwifery technician diploma being offered by colleges under Christian Health of Malawi [Cham].”
According to a report titled Closing the Gap: Sufficient, Competent and Motivated Nurses and Midwives in Malawi 2019 to 2023, Malawi faces one of the worst human resource constraints in Sub-Saharan Africa with 0.7 nurses and midwives per a 1 000 population.
This is apart from numerous challenges that nurses and midwives face relating to remuneration and a huge chunk that remains unemployed.
