Training Equips Nigerian Student Nurses as Climate and Health Frontline Leaders
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Photo credit: Nurses Across Borders A landmark public lecture, “Climate Change and Public Health: The Indispensable Role of the Nigerian Nurse,” was delivered by Pastor Peters Omoragbon, Executive President of Nurses Across the Borders (NAB) to Student Nurses at the College of Nursing Sciences in Benin City, Edo State. Nigeria.
Addressing student nurses across Nigeria, the training reframed climate change as an urgent health crisis, grounded in the WHO Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health (ATACH) goals. Drawing on NAB’s two decades of global advocacy—holding UNFCCC Observer status since 2004 and ECOSOC consultative status since 2005—the session detailed Nigeria’s climate-sensitive disease burden, from flood-linked cholera to shifting malaria patterns.
A key outcome was the unveiling of a practical “Climate-Informed Nursing Practice Guide,” equipping nurses with bedside actions such as climate-sensitive history-taking and outbreak checklists. The lecture also advanced a bold six-module curriculum proposal for integrating planetary health into nursing education, positioning future nurses as indispensable sentinels and advocates for a climate-resilient, low-carbon health system.
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For information about Nurses Across Borders please, visit: www.nursesacrosstheborders.org
Watch the NAB side event The Health Impacts of Climate Change and MITIGATION Strategies here: https://youtu.be/l9yosPtSjUg?si=6daz5z0_3wvcTiJ3