Ms. Halyen is an accomplished nurse and leader in Afghanistan. She won an award for successfully conducting research from the Eighth Health Results Conference from the Ministry of Public Health-Afghanistan in 2019. Her accomplishments also include achieving a Management Excellence Award in 2019 and completing an FMEA on Eliminating Medical Errors as a Result of Wrong Patient Identification. Ms. Halyen has worked on updating guidelines for nurses and midwives in Afghanistan and has received national recognition for her efforts.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted her work dramatically, due to limited resources in Afghanistan hospitals. As head nurse, she is responsible for ensuring that her staff has access to appropriate personal protective equipment to keep them and their families safe. In addition to her regular duties, Ms. Halyen has implemented major policy and protocol changes to manage COVID-19.
Ms. Halyen believes that nurses and midwives are critical to combating COVID-19. Nurses in particular are frequently the highest-level provider for primary care in Afghanistan, and are essential to expanding the delivery of health services, particularly to remote populations.