The UP College of Nursing (UPCN) has been redesignated as a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Leadership in Nursing Development for another four years.
As a collaborating center from 2016 to 2020, the college seeks to assist the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office in strengthening integrated multi-profession education by developing curriculum and teaching education standards in nursing.
It also intends to share lessons with WPRO member states in implementing integrated and people-oriented services that are focused on health promotion and non-communicable disease prevention, and help further strengthen the Australia AID-funded Cambodia Nurse Bridging Program. UPCN spearheaded the program from 2012 to 2014 to upscale nursing education in Cambodia from an associate degree to a baccalaureate degree.
Officials of UP Manila, UPCN and the Philippine Embassy to Cambodia during the recognition ceremony in February 2015 for the first batch of graduates of the Cambodia Nurse Bridging Program. From left: Asst. Prof. Arnold B. Peralta, Assoc. Prof. Luz Barbara Dones, former dean of UPCN and CNBP director Prof. Araceli O. Balabagno, Philippine Embassy to Cambodia Charge d’ Affairs Myca Fischer, UP Manila chancellor Prof. Carmencita Padilla, UPCN dean Lourdes Marie Tejero, and Asst. Prof. Jenniffer T. Paguio (Photo by UPCN)
The college is the only institution in the Philippines and the first in the Western Pacific Region that has been designated as a WHO Collaborating Centre in Nursing.
It has a long history of collaboration with WHO starting as a WHO Collaborating Centre for Leadership in Primary Health Care in 1989-2001 and as WHO Collaborating Centre for Leadership in Nursing Development from 2004 to present.
The UPCN has produced several modules on health promotion and disease prevention as part of its work for WHO, including the “Training Manual for Health Workers in Promoting Healthy Lifestyles” and the module “Integrating Prevention and Control of Tobacco Use/Smoking in the Nursing Curriculum.”
It is also part of three large global networks.
From 2013 to 2015, it served as the Secretariat of the Asia-Pacific Emergency and Disaster Nursing Network which aims to advance a professional network to promote nursing’s ability to reduce the impact of disaster and emergencies on the health of communities. Currently, it has 240 members from over 40 countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
The College is also a member of the Global Network of WHO Collaborating Centres for Nursing and Midwifery Development, a network of 42 nursing and midwifery collaborating centers in the world; and the WHO Network for HIV and Health in the Western Pacific.
