GCU WHO Nursing Collaborating Centre takes expertise to Kyrgyzstan

Dr Gordon Hill with Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization at an event in Glasgow earlier this year

Dr Gordon Hill, Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Nursing and Public Health Education and Research at Glasgow Caledonian, is heading for Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia next month.

Dr Hill, who is also Assistant Head for International in the School of Health and Life Sciences and a Senior Lecturer, will meet the country’s Minister of Healthcare Akmaral Alnazarova and Chief Nursing Officer Gulnaz Azhymambetova during a WHO conference.

He will be speaking to the WHO Europe delegation about nursing in the UK and promoting the University’s activities in rehabilitation research. Dr Hill will also be attending other regional WHO meetings during the visit with Deputy Director and fellow nursing Senior Lecturer Tom McAlear.

The WHO Nursing Collaborating Centre at Glasgow Caledonian has been recognised as being a linchpin in supporting nursing developments with the WHO, enabling the University to contribute to global health improvements, advance nursing education, and foster international collaboration. The Centre is due for re-designation later this year and the team are including a rehabilitation focus in the new bid. If the re-designation is successful, it will make Glasgow Caledonian the only WHO Nursing Collaborating Centre of its kind in the UK.

Dr Hill said: “I am honoured to visit Kyrgyzstan as part of the WHO delegation to the country and to meet with the Minister of Health and Chief Nursing officer. This visit is hugely significant and is recognition of our crucial role as a WHO Nursing collaborating centre and the contribution we have made to the development of the nursing profession worldwide.

“The University has been a WHO Nursing Collaborating Centre since 1993 and have been central in WHO nursing initiatives since then. We hope that the visit to Kyrgyzstan will strengthen links in the Central Asia region and forge new collaborative partnerships.”

Photo shows Dr Gordon Hill with Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization at an event in Glasgow earlier this year.