Millenium

In September 2000 at the United Nations Millennium Summit, world leaders agreed to set measurable goals and targets aimed at attacking head on many of the challenges facing the world today.

The Gretta Foundation’s work encompasses most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as it works to increase the global nurseforce and bolster healthcare capacity and improve patient care and outcomes.

A significant phenomenon undermines all efforts in developing countries to stabilize health dilemmas such as poor maternal health, high child mortality rates, and diseases like HIV/AIDS. It’s the global shortage of healthcare’s most precious resource: nursing.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Africa. According to the WHO World Health Report 2006, Sub-Saharan Africa has 24% of the global disease burden but only 3% of the healthcare workforce worldwide. The Gretta Foundation’s work is currently focused in Africa.

Nursing scholarship recipients, or Gretta Scholars, matriculate in nursing programs in their country’s system of education. Each Gretta Scholar is provided with an annual tuition, room and board, living allowance, books, school uniforms, shoes, and clinical supplies, such stethoscopes and blood pressure readers.

In repayment for the scholarship, graduating scholars will serve in their country’s clinics and hospitals for a predetermined period of time, commensurate with each year of academic assistance.

Nursing scholarships also empower women by providing the skills to enter into an indispensable and remunerative career. In support of the MDGs, The Gretta Foundation help women earn an income, empowering them economically and socially for more control over their lives and security for their children.

Nurses are positive role models and instruments of change that empower their communities by caring for the ill while providing real hope for disease prevention and cure. A nurse’s impact on the world is inestimable.

MDGs

The Millennium Development Goals:
Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower women
Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality
Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other Diseases
Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development