There are over 5.8 million registered nurses in the United States, making nursing the largest health care profession in the country. Globally, the World Health Organization reports that nurses make up 59 percent of health professionals.
Yet, nurses globally have not always been recognized for their central role in delivering care, working with communities to improve health, and leading health services, including in the field of global health.
GUSON Dean Roberta Waite, Ed.D., R.N., is changing this narrative through expansion of the school’s international initiatives.
At the School of Nursing, we see local health and global health as closely interconnected and recognize the significant impact that Georgetown is already having around the world. For us, global health is significant to nursing practice and research, and we will be growing our activities and working with the Global Health Institute to more closely connect these with colleagues from across the university.
The impactful global health work undertaken by GUSON ranges from maternal health in Tanzania to leadership development in Nigeria and nutrition in Egypt.
Strengthening Maternal and Child Health
With a particular emphasis on maternal and child health, GUSON runs a range of international programs focused on improving health care in East Africa.
GUSON team members Lauren Arrington (left), Mara Evans, and Christina X. Marea leading the partnership with the WAJAMAMA.
In Zanzibar, a Tanzanian archipelago, maternal mortality and morbidity rates remain high. According to Assistant Professor Christina X. Marea, Ph.D., Zanzibari nurse-midwives are eager to receive ongoing skills training to maintain and improve their skills for the identification and management of pregnancy complications.
GUSON partnered with the WAJAMAMA, a nonprofit foundation with an affiliated health clinic, to launch a bidirectional training program that expands the clinic’s group care initiative and provides continuing education for nurse-midwives. WAJAMAMA, which stands for watoto (children), jamii (community), and mama (mother) in Swahili, was founded by alumna Nafisa Jiddawi (NHS’14), whose work was deeply influenced by the Jesuit values of cura personalis (care of the person).
GUSON has the second-largest midwifery program in the United States and an incredible faculty of global health midwives. Through our partnership with WAJAMAMA, our doctor of nursing practice and master’s in global health students gain firsthand experience in global health programming, monitoring and evaluation frameworks, and clinical practice in resource-limited settings.
In Tanzania’s rural Kilimanjaro region, GUSON has also expanded the Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) program, which focuses on providing newborns with life-saving interventions during the critical “Golden Minute” after birth.
Training consists of simple, low-cost techniques such as assessing the quality of crying at birth, cleaning and warming the newborn, and stimulating breathing.
Krista White, Ph.D., R.N., an associate professor and director of the Tanzania Experiential Learning Opportunity, was one of the GUSON faculty members who led the training of 40 nurse-midwives. She credits the success of the training to “the full collaboration between the U.S. team members and our Tanzanian colleagues.”
White adds, “Programs like HBB embody GUSON’s commitment to serving others. We carried out this service in a thoughtful, humble, and respectful manner, always prioritizing the community’s goals.”
A collaboration between GUSON, the Kenyan Ministry of Health, and Canadian Nurses for Africa (CNFA) resulted in the first global Doctor of Nursing Practice scholarly project by Clarissa Berry (G’24) and Farwa Mateen (G’24) that addressed maternal and newborn health.
Building on its success is a new motorcycle emergency transport system that is set to roll out in May 2025. This system will help community health promoters transport expectant and postpartum mothers, as well as newborns, to nearby health care facilities. The motorcycles, donated by CNFA, aim to improve timely and critical health care services in rural communities.
This collaboration continues with nursing faculty from Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology in Kakamega, Kenya, performing an evaluation of the motorcycle program in fall 2025.
Empowering Nurses as Leaders
A second pillar of GUSON’s global health work is developing nurse leaders who can advocate for stronger health care systems. The Nurse Leadership Initiative in Nigeria, which was funded by the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, is one such example.
Kosko with community leaders at the launch of the Nursing Leadership Initiative in Kenya.
This program trains and mentors over 100 nurses to contribute to the United Nations’ goal of ending HIV by 2030. Co-developed by Debra Kosko, DNP, assistant dean for evaluation and outcomes at GUSON, the program features a two-week training session in Abuja, followed by four months of mentorship as the nurses implemented quality improvement projects in their workplaces throughout Nigeria.
Becky Kluge (G’26, 2024-2025 GUGHI student fellow), R.N., a graduate student in the Master of Science in Global Health program, is excited about the anticipated impact of the Nurse Leadership Initiative.
Nurses in Nigeria often face limited opportunities for professional growth. This program equips them with both knowledge and a pathway to advance their careers.
Advancing Health Through Education and Research
Beyond training health care professionals, GUSON is committed to improving public health through innovative education and research. In Egypt, where malnutrition and childhood obesity rates are high, Intima Alrimawi, Ph.D., associate professor at GUSON, and her team studied food and nutrition literacy (FNL) among school-age children. Their research, which surveyed 400 students across 25 schools, found that 61% of the children had low FNL scores.
The research team recommended that nutrition-related topics be integrated into the school curriculum in collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Education. These topics, Alrimawi noted, should incorporate traditional Egyptian cuisine and cooking methods. Additionally, the team recommended workshops led by school nurses to equip students and their families with nutrition knowledge and skills.
The first session of interdisciplinary case challenge INSPIRE.
Building engagement among Georgetown’s student body, GUSON and the Georgetown University Global Health Institute (GUGHI) launched INnovations in Solving Problems through Interdisciplinary Research and Education (INSPIRE). This program brings together students from across the university to collaboratively address global health challenges. The first virtual event in March 2025 centered the timely issue of wildfires.
Looking Ahead
As an initial step towards further building the school’s global health programs, Dean Waite has established a collaborating group of faculty at GUSON, in partnership with GUGHI. This group will work to launch programs and partnerships integrated with wider global health activities across the university, with a vision of having ever greater impact, grounded in values and communities.
To learn more about GUSON’s work, subscribe to the CURA quarterly newsletter by emailing soncomm@georgetown.edu.