MEDIA ALERT.
MONDAY, 19 OCTOBER 2026.
PRETORIA – The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) will be hosting a Two-Day 4th BRICS Nursing Conference, on 21 and 22 October 2026, at the Emperor’s Palace in Kempton Park, which will be a critical information-sharing platform on effective healthcare programmes in the different BRICS countries to strengthen the prevention and management of infectious disease outbreaks as a way to protect communities better in future.
The BRICS Nurses Forum was formalised in 2016, where national nursing associations from the BRICS countries exchange information on effective programmes to prevent and manage healthcare risks in the BRICS nations. Its role is to assist the Health Sector under BRICS to run effective healthcare programmes in the BRICS countries, according to Nine Strategic Health Priorities. With nurses making up the majority of healthcare professionals, the BRICS Nurses Forum is one of the anchor platforms that spearhead the implementation of healthcare programmes.
Held under the theme, Bridging the Gap in Nursing Care: Innovation, Equity and Workplace Resilience in the BRICS+ communities, Minister of Health in South Africa, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, will open the Conference with the keynote address on Day One. About 200 nurses from the BRICS countries will be participating in various areas of nursing at the conference. On the evening of Day One, on 21 October, Gauteng Premier, Panyaza Lesufi, will be addressing the gala dinner of the conference.
DENOSA will be representing South Africa at these engagements, alongside National Department of Health (NDoH), South African Nursing Council (SANC), and Forum of University Nursing Deans of South Africa (FUNDISA).
On the sidelines of this BRICS Nursing Conference will be a BRICS Nursing Forum Meeting, to be attended by government leaders from the BRICS nations as well as leaders from national nursing associations (NNAs), nursing regulation authorities as well as leaders from the education sectors from these countries.
More than 100 submitted abstracts have been approved for presentation at the conference by nurses from South Africa, Brazil, Russia, India, and China, including different countries in Africa.
The conference will discuss key pertinent health systems and challenges in the BRICS nations and beyond, under four research tracks:
- Strengthening Nursing and Midwifery Practice.
- Ethics, Digital Sovereignty, and AI Integration in Nursing.
- Clinical Nursing Excellence and Inclusive Care.
- Integration of Indigenous Knowledge in Nursing and Midwifery Practice.
The event will take place at the time when the world, including BRICS countries, is experiencing systemic challenges in healthcare due to highly disruptive pandemic outbreaks, like COVID-19, which caused huge disruptions in global healthcare systems.
South Africa alone is still reeling from the shockwaves of the pandemic, which caused huge deaths in both communities and healthcare professionals, and forced many equally significant healthcare programmes to be put in abeyance.
But, despite these challenges, many countries in the BRICS have come up with effective models, which will be part of the discussions at the conference, where insightful information and knowledge will be shared on working models between the countries.
The aim of the event is to have working and effective models shared amongst the BRICS countries and having these find presence at policy-levels in the different countries.
With BRICS countries expected to dominate the global economy by 2050, the BRICS Nurses Forum understands that the bedrock of gradual economic growth in these countries are the effective healthcare programmes and the clean bill of health for their citizens.
Members of the media are invited to this important event.
The details of the event are as follows:
DATE: 21-22 October 2026.
TIME: 09h00
VENUE: Emperor’s Palace, Kempton Park.
MEDIA RSVP: Sibongiseni Delihlazo.
MOBILE: 060 602 8395.
End.
Issued by the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA).
For more information, contact:
Sibongiseni Delihlazo, DENOSA National Spokesperson.
Mobile: 060 602 8395.
