Elizabeth Pearson
For the International Nurses and Midwives Week this year, a Uganda Nurses’ exhibition, the first of its kind, dubbed the Mary Seacole and Florence Nightingale of Uganda, was held over four days (9-14 May 2025). Postponed due to the pandemic, its objective was to highlight the importance of leadership and legacy, and highlight the nurses’ contribution in building a nation’s health.
Diaspora Uganda Nurses and Midwives Society (DUNMS), whose ultimate goal is to support the nursing work environment and improve care by equipping nurses and midwives with skills, competencies, and tools to become competent, confident professional champions, designed and organized the inaugural Nurses’ exhibition to showcase the pioneer nurses and midwives as part of the Appreciative Inquiry project.
The history of nursing is intertwined with the history of gender, race, politics, economics, equality, and health. Nursing as a profession is rapidly growing and evolving, but what can we learn from the past and the legacy of pioneering nurses who forged the path for the profession today?
In Uganda, like elsewhere, most patients know that the nursing team members are there to help them, but they do not fully understand our role. Hereby reclaiming the narratives, the exhibition helped to identify a network of accomplished pioneer Nurse leaders who formed a powerful resource for building and advancing our profession. This nurses’ exhibition was designed to capture their credentials across the span of their careers, their unique contributions in specific areas of expertise, and their professional and educational accomplishments.
The exhibition was aimed at
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Raising the profile of nursing legacy, leadership.
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Help more people understand the nurses’ contribution to improving the nation’s health.
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Highlight the importance of history
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Celebrate the pioneer Nurses and Midwife leaders (pre-1990 qualification), whose efforts shaped the Nursing and Midwifery fraternity (areas of expertise, i.e., research, nursing practice, midwifery, clinical practice, and education).
The Objectives included
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The importance of legacy in the development of a profession.
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Reflect on the lessons of the lived experiences of pioneering nurses
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Understand why museums are important
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Motivate and attract the young generation to consider nursing and midwifery as a career.
The exhibition highlighted pioneers in the four pillars of nursing with four additional, extraordinary, specific categories, i.e.:
To motivate and attract the younger generation to consider nursing and midwifery as a career, the team held an assembly at the University of Kampala, with student nurses and midwives. There were many questions on career progression and the opportunities for research.
Although there was no external funding received to support the logistics required, the Nursing Exhibition was a successful celebratory event that helped to address some of the challenges that the fraternity is facing in uplifting the profession’s ability by highlighting the positives and possibilities that have been secured. Feedback from many of the members who attended requested a regional exhibition for equity and easier accessibility. The full report can be accessed on our website, www.nhccuganda.com. Or contact us via email:- nhccuganda@gmail.com.
As a Community organization, we at DUNMS heavily rely on donations and volunteers to support our activities to make the training and events accessible and affordable. Members are welcome, especially the diaspora from across the globe. Please consider joining the society.
