Participants included selected deans of nursing, experts in nursing and midwifery education, selected members of the Regional Advisory Panel on Nursing, the Chairperson of the Global Advisory Group on Nursing and Midwifery, representatives of the WHO collaborating centres for nursing in the Region, a representative of the Scientific Society of Arab Faculties of Nursing, as well as WHO staff from headquarters and regional (African and Eastern Mediterranean) levels.

The meeting was inaugurated by Her Royal Highness, Princess Muna Al-Hussein, WHO Patron for Nursing and Midwifery in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and Dr Ala Alwan, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean.

Her Royal Highness commended the Regional Advisory Panel for its tireless efforts to ensure that the populations in the Region had access to competent nurses and midwives capable of meeting national health priorities. She noted that the first set of regional education standards and prototype curricula had been used extensively in improving the quality of education.

HRH Princess Muna highlighted the fact that nurses and midwives provided care under difficult situations, and needed to be better prepared at all levels and supported by institutionalized regulation and standards. She noted that there had been a general expansion of schools without a corresponding increase in the number of teachers.

Dr Alwan noted that while the existence of regional standards for nursing education for the last 15 years was commendable, it was now time to update them and the prototype macro-curriculum for pre-service nursing education, and to develop a framework for nursing specialization. He also highlighted the growing importance of noncommunicable diseases in the Region and the contribution nurses can make to strengthening health systems.

The meeting was participatory in nature, with plenary sessions with key presentations, group work and discussions. The agenda was arranged around three themes: regional nursing education standards, the prototype curricula for pre-service nursing education and nursing specialization.