The essence, opportunities and threats to Advanced Practice Nursing in Sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review

BACKGROUND: The conditions that stimulated the implementation of Advanced Practice Nursing programmes all over the world have long been ignored in sub-Saharan Africa. OBJECTIVE: This study sought to explore the essence, opportunities and threats to the implementation of an Advanced Practice Nursing (Child Health Nurse Practitioner) programmes in sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS: A scoping review was conducted and findings reviewed by a multinational multidisciplinary health experts’ team through a Delphi study. RESULTS: Children are the majority of the 70–90% of the sub-Saharan African population who reside in the rural areas where access to timely, quality and cost-effective healthcare is poor. The Child Health Nurse Practitioner programme offers an opportunity to provide quality, timely and cost-effective healthcare to sub-Saharan Africa children. Limited resources, opposition from the medical profession, poor nursing governance and lack of context-specific Advanced Practice Nursing benchmark programmes constitute threats to the programme. CONCLUSION: The sub-Saharan Africa context provides opportunities that the nursing profession can harness to surmount such threats. Nursing governance structures, however, need to advocate for government and other stakeholders’ support for the Child Health Nursing Practitioner programme.