Frontier Nursing University (FNU) is excited to announce a new affiliation agreement with the FSIL School of Nursing in Haiti. The Faculty of Nursing Science of the Episcopal University of Haiti or FSIL (Faculté des Sciences Infirmières de l’Université Episcopale d’Haïti), in Léogâne, Haiti, is the top-ranked nursing school and first four-year baccalaureate school of nursing in the country.

FNU’s first objective is to support FSIL as the school develops a nurse-midwifery program, with a goal of launching the program in fall 2016. FNU will be assisting with curriculum development, providing consultation on distance education issues and helping ensure the nurse-midwifery program launches successfully.

“Haiti has some of the most challenging issues in maternal-child health in the world,” said FNU President Dr. Susan Stone. “We believe educating Haitian nurse-midwives will be a major intervention to improve this.”

FSIL has become a model for nursing schools across Haiti. In addition to the nurse-midwifery program, FSIL would like to implement a diploma to BSN program and eventually a family nurse practitioner program. The school also hopes to build a family birthing center on campus to use as a clinical site.

According to a report from the Interuniversity Institute for Research and Development (INURED), 87 percent of Haiti’s higher education institutions were located in the region affected by the catastrophic earthquake that struck the island in 2010. FNU has long focused on underserved and rural populations, with a mission to educate nurses to become competent and compassionate nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners who are leaders in the primary care of women and families.