The National Organization of Nurses and Midwives of Malawi says it is important for nurses and midwives to be acquainted with labour laws, unionism and leadership.

In interview, Central West Zone Chairperson of NONM, Chimwemwe Ziyaya, said nurses need to understand and know labour laws so that they can act accordingly and be better advocates for their profession.

He said this at one of the trainings which were conducted across the country on the aforementioned themes.

He said: “Membership is lacking some important information when it comes to their relation with their employers. Using this training it was really worthy to equip our participants, our membership that when they go down to their work place they should do things rightly at the right time so that we avoid unnecessary lawsuits, legal issues and the like so that our membership is professionally applied.”

One of the participants of the trainings David Mnkhondya, vice chairman of Kasungu District Hospital NONM chapter said the training has benefited them in a way that they have been equipped with leadership skills to bring positive change to their various facilities.

He said: “As shop stewards we have to be advocating for our fellow nurses, but how best are we going to do it? We have to know the laws that are there that are guiding us and from the onset of the training today, we have known what is supposed to be done and amicably we are going to resolve the conflicts that might arise henceforth.”

The trainings were conducted with aid from Norwegian Nurses Organization. 120 nurses and midwives were trained in total; 40 from the North zone, 40 from Central East and Central West Zones and 40 from South West and South East Zones.