Is It Possible to Become a Nurse in a Refugee Camp?

The history of theWestern Sahara has been marked by several events that have contributed
to the protracted refugee situation in which the Sahrawi people have found themselves since 1975:
the Spanish colonization and the subsequent decolonization process, the armed struggles between
the indigenous population and the states of Morocco and Mauritania to occupy Western Saharan
territory, assassinations and repression of the Sahrawi population, and the economic interests of
external agents with regards to mineral resources. Twenty-five years ago, in the hostile environment
of the Sahrawi refugee camps, a nursing school was founded. Essentially depending on foreign aid,
this school has been responsible for training nursing professionals to meet the healthcare needs of the
population. The aim of this paper is to provide an approach to the origin and evolution of nursing
education for the Sahrawi refugee camps. The Sahrawi are the only refugee camps in the world to
host such nursing schools.