Minette Coetzee

Minette Coetzee PhD RN is an associate professor in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Cape Town and based at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Cape Town.
She is the founder and Director of the Harry Crossley Children’s Nursing Development Unit. A nurse-led teaching and scholarship unit committed to building children’s nursing in Africa for Africa in ways that contribute to the children’s nursing workforce across the region.
Dedicated to facilitating the design, development, delivery and accreditation of curricula that facilitate learning directed at best outcomes for children and their families, Minette has pioneered in-country children’s nursing training across Sub-Saharan Africa. She has led the collaborative design of region-specific curricula resulting in 10 new accredited programs across 7 countries in East and Southern Africa. These initiatives have added approximately 1,400 children’s nurses to Africa’s health systems over the past decade.
Minette leads a team committed to the clinical scholarship of articulating local best practice models and translating complex emerging scientific understandings and evidence into accessible nursing interventions that improve children’s health outcomes. The approach emphasizes participative methods in research, education, and clinical practice development with children’s nurses in local settings.
She is passionate about building authentic leadership capacity in children’s nurses, clinicians, educators, and leaders as they strive for best outcomes for children and their families through contextually appropriate evidenced-based practice and with a commitment to unapologetic African nursing excellence.