Nurses, duly trained in sexual and reproductive health and in women's health, exercising the profession regulated according to the norms international organizations, can provide 87% of the essential care needed by women and newborn babies and help ensure that they stay healthy and productive in their families and communities.

In The Lancet (2014), 56 health gains resulting from specialized nursing care in maternal and obstetric health (ESMO), standing out: fewer premature births; fewer interventions during childbirth; more spacing between pregnancies; increased use of contraceptives; increase of breastfeeding, either at the beginning or during its duration; and shorter hospital stays at birth in health institutions.

Thus, we consider that networking, namely in women's health and sexual and reproductive health, can facilitate the transition from the present and the past to the future, focusing care on people and communities and responding to changes social, demographic and health / disease.

The constitution of the Women's Health Nursing Network in Speaking Countries (RESM-LP) proposes to optimize the nursing human resources of maternal and midwifery health and midwives, promoting their training, maximizing your skills through collaborative partnerships, and enhancing your leadership in health projects at local, national and / or international level.

Combining efforts and making the most of nurses' potential, we want to to help every woman and girl living in a language-speaking country Portuguese people, develop their health potential, know their rights, be capable of self-determination in view of their life / health project, have opportunities social and economic interests, and can participate fully in building societies sustainable and prosperous.

The construction of a network of transnational cooperation in health nursing in women from Portuguese-speaking countries was mobilized by the Escola Superior de Nursing of Coimbra (ESEnfC) from its already established professional relationships between and in different countries. Networks develop trust and reciprocity through application of the principle of solidarity, in view of the wealth of scientific, cultural and technology of nurses and society in each country.

ESEnfC was elected to exercise the transcontinental coordination of RESM-LP, that is, the “Heart of the network”. From this, all actions are mobilized for the characterization of the situation of women's health, sexual and reproductive and neonatal health, by country, with in order to identify problems that can be mediated by the intervention of integrated in the network. Thus, multicenter projects will be elaborated, national and international and which will also constitute opportunities for advanced academic development, assuming the importance of the interconnection between research, training and clinical practice.

There is much to do. As WHO says, the complex and emerging health challenges of the 21st century require from us a more proactive and innovative approach to health development (2016). Investing in the health of women and children is everything, to help access a right, but also to help the development of stable, peaceful and productive societies, as it reduces poverty, stimulates productivity and economic growth and helps women and children to achieve their fundamental rights (Ban Ki-moon, 2010).

RESM-LP seeks to help achieve one of the priorities of the WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus - “Women, children, adolescents” - when he mentions that “I believe healthy, empowered girls and women have the potential to build stronger communities, and nations and ultimately transform entire societies. ”(2017). For this stresses that:

The knowledge of nursing produced by nurses / Angolans, Brazilian, Portuguese, Mozambican, Cape Verdean, Timorese, Guinean and Sao Tome that make up the RESM-LP is available to help transform the current reality. The integral health of women, their citizenship and human care are at the heart of center of your attention. The diversification of talents, opportunities, knowledge and technologies in women's health, associated with the desire to, with women and men, produce research and nursing technologies in women's health, are potentialized by RESM-LP and will optimize corporate and state resources - material, financial, human, among others. Thus, RESM-LP declares its commitment to contribute to the achievement of the goals defined as necessary to shape a more prosperous and sustainable future, as advocated by the Global Strategy for Women's, Children's and Adolescents' Health, 2016-2030 .

As nurses and midwives and in accordance with our social mandate, we do not we can stop acting: the promotion (of integral health) of women is our cause .

Women are the support of a healthy community and the main safeguard of the health and quality of life of newborns, children and adolescents.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has paid special attention to the health of women, considering it today as an urgent priority. “Women and health: today’s evidence tomorrow’s agenda ”(2009) takes stock of what is known about the health of women throughout their lives and in various regions of the world. The approach to of life - used in this report - demonstrates how interventions carried out in the childhood, adolescence, reproductive years and after this phase, affect future years and the following generations. It also highlights the interaction of biological and social determinants women's health and draws attention to the impact of gender inequality on health, which increases exposure and vulnerability to risk, limiting access to health care.

In 2015, a percentage of 99% (302,000) of maternal deaths worldwide occurred in regions with low / very low development, with Sub-Saharan Africa being the most affected (66%). The maternal mortality rate in countries with very low in 2015, 239 per 100,000 live births, while in developing countries very high development, was 12 per 100 000. There are wide disparities between countries, but also within countries and among women of different social classes, and between rural and urban population. (WHO, 2014; Say, 2014; UN, 2015).

Maternal mortality is highly associated with complications that occur during gestational period and most are preventable. The main complications that cause 75% of maternal deaths are: postpartum hemorrhages, puerperal infections, diseases hypertensive pregnancies, complications in childbirth and risky abortions. Malaria and HIV correspond to a large part of the remaining 25% of deaths. (UNFPA, 2014; Say, 2014).

The importance of human resources for health is nurses for the performance of health systems (Fernandes et al, 2016). The 2006 World Health Report mentions a global deficit in health workers (4.3 million) mainly doctors, nurses and midwives. Of the 57 countries that suffer critical deficit in human resources for health, three are African-speaking Portugal - Mozambique, Angola and Guinea Bissau - and face serious challenges for the development of these resources. (WHO, 2007; Lourenço and Tyrrell, 2009; WHO, 2010; WHO, 2014).

According to WHO (2016) the success of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Global Strategy for the Health of Women, Children and Adolescents 2016–2030 largely depend on human resource capacities in the information sector nursing and midwifery.

Global strategic directions for strengthening nursing and midwifery 2016-2020 (WHO, 2016) demonstrates that human resources in Nursing and Midwifery contribute to Universal Health Coverage and compliance with the Health Agenda. Sustainable Development (2016-2030).

The vision outlined by WHO for 2030 is that all women of reproductive age, including adolescents, have universal access to health nursing services maternal and obstetric. To make up for the EESMO deficit, countries need to strengthen their planning policies and to expand access to services provided by these professionals. (WHO, 2010; UNFPA et al, 2014).

It is urgent to find new answers to save the lives of more women and more newborns, providing quality nursing services. This requires not only more nursing professionals, but also: an education of nursing professionals quality nursing; intervene with adolescents, women and men, in different settings, focusing on primary health care, proximity and articulation with differentiated health care; increase the capacity of interventions that save lives by EESMO in health facilities; strengthen and increase networks and number of professional nursing associations in sexual and reproductive health, neonatal and women's health; exercise advocacy so that all teenagers, women and men, to access sexual and reproductive health services, sensitive to genre; develop and implement licenses for nursing professionals to support continuing education; offer accessible distance training to as many as possible nursing professionals; gather and disseminate accurate data about the workforce of midwives. (UNFPA et al, 2014)

• Strengthen training in maternal health, obstetric, gynecological and neonatal;
• Promote research, technological production and the dissemination of knowledge in Portuguese-speaking countries;
• Build multicenter projects in cooperation with the countries that are part of the RESMLP;
• Build recommendations for dialogical intermediation in the field of public policies;
• Mobilize nurses to exercise nursing care based on scientific evidence and technological support;
• Encourage the enhancement of talent among partners from different countries;
• Promote the exercise of women's rights, in partnership with men.

• Solidarity between nursing professionals, men and women, in the care of nursing to women's health;
• Safeguarding the person's autonomy in nursing care and rights humans;
• Defense of social justice in nursing care;
• Respect for dignity, freedom, truth and equal rights;
• Guarantee of the exercise of women's power to define their life / health project;
• Ensuring the safety of people in the provision of nursing care, research and technology development;
• Nursing care based on scientific evidence of a higher degree;
• Guarantee of access to qualified information and data confidentiality;
• Respect for cultural diversity, talents, theoretical and practical approaches methodological;
• Political and religious independence of the Network;
• Research and produce technological innovation for the benefit of women and men Portuguese language in the context of society and the state.

• Commitment to the socio-cultural development and citizenship of women and men Portuguese speaking;
• Diversification of nursing talents, opportunities, knowledge and technologies women's health;
• Willingness of nurses to, with women and men, produce research and nursing technologies in women's health;
• Corporate and state resources that can be optimized (material, financial, among others).

Professional nurses and midwives from 8 Portuguese-speaking countries - Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and East Timor - which integrate political organizations, academic institutions, professional organizations, and nurses / health care providers in the public services of the respective countries.

Coimbra Nursing School - Portugal

President: Professor Doctor Aida Maria da Cruz Mendes

Executive Coordination: Professor Doctor Maria Neto da Cruz Leitão