2026 Special Issue of the Africa Journal of Nursing and Midwifery
2026 Special Issue of the Africa Journal of Nursing and Midwifery
We are pleased to invite submissions of papers to the Special Issue of AJNM dedicated to Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
Theme: Universal health coverage as a strategy to ensure that all people have access to the full range of quality health services, as a fundamental objective of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals
Deadline for the submission: 31 March 2026
OVERVIEW
Achieving UHC is a fundamental objective of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), aimed at enhancing global health and well-being. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) (2012), UHC ensures that all individuals have access to a comprehensive range of quality healthcare services without incurring financial hardship. This encompasses the entire spectrum of essential health services, including health promotion, disease prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care throughout their life. The WHO targets an additional one billion people who will benefit from UHC by 2025. This special issue explores the progress, challenges, and future directions of UHC in the African context. We encourage contributions that examine both the theoretical and practical aspects of UHC, including but not limited to the following topics:
1. Sexual Reproductive Health
• Accessibility to comprehensive reproductive health such as contraception, maternal care, and safe abortion, in the realization of UHC
• Sexual Reproductive Health Prioritization for adolescents and the LGBTQ+ community to ensure UHC
• Integration of HIV/AIDS care into the UHC strategies
2. Primary Health Care
• Community health workers as catalysts for PHC delivery.
• PHC as the core of UHC by delivering essential health services such as preventative care, maternal and child health and treatment of common illnesses
3. Quality patient and nursing care
• Exploring ways to incorporate patient-centred approaches in UHC to improve patient satisfaction and outcomes.
• Ensuring sufficient medical equipment for effective diagnostic and treatment capabilities,
• Promotion of quality care, reduction of overcrowding, and long patient waiting times
• Nursing leadership in quality improvement and UHC implementation.
4. Building Resilient Health Systems for UHC
• Access to medicines and drugs: Improving access to essential medicines and medical products
• Digital, electronic health record, and innovation as UHC accelerators.
• Enhancement of procurement and supply chain systems to realise UHC
• Exploration of health systems readiness in UHC
5. Human Resource for health
• Measures /strategies to reduce HRH /staff shortages as a factor in UHC
• Strategies to attract the Gen Z health care workers as ideal champions for telemedicine, AI in healthcare
• Incorporating principles of UHC in curricula for all the multidisciplinary team, especially the nurses
• Mental health and burnout prevention among healthcare workers.
6. IKS and traditional health care
• Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS) as an aspect in UHC
• Enhancement of interdisciplinary collaboration, including traditional health care, in view of UHC
• Policy and practice integration of IKS in UHC.
7. Perspectives of UHC models
• Reflecting on various UHC models from different countries reporting on partnerships and sustainable investments in workforce and systems development.
• Critiques and SWOT analysis of the NHI in the South African context
8. Leadership and governance and legal aspects
• Recognition of legal frameworks for achieving UHC
• Leadership and governance as the backbone of UHC
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
• The manuscripts should be original research written in English.
• Fully comply with AJNM authors’ guidelines.
• Upload the manuscript to the journal website at https://unisapressjournals.co.za/index.php/AJNM/
• NB: All submissions will undergo a rigorous review process.
CONTACT
Prof Sisinyana H Khunou (Chief Editor AJNM): khunosh@unisa.ac.za
Prof Perpetua Modjadji (Deputy Chairperson of the AJNM board): Perpetua.modjadji@mrc.ac.za
