2020: Year of the nurse and midwife
Nursing Now is a three-year global campaign (2018-2020) to improve health by raising the status and profile of nursing.
The campaign vision is to:
- to improve health globally by raising the profile and status of nurses worldwide
- influencing policymakers and supporting nurses to lead, learn and build a global movement
The World Health Organisation (WHO) designated 2020 as the “Year of the Nurse and Midwife” in honour of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale and in recognition of her contribution to health and humanity.
The year 2020 is significant for WHO in the context of nursing and midwifery strengthening for Universal Health Coverage. WHO is leading the development of the first State of the World’s Nursing Report 2020 and the third State of the World’s Midwifery Report. These reports will be launched in 2020, before the 73rd World Health Assembly. The reports will describe the nursing and midwifery workforce in WHO Member States, providing an assessment of ‘fitness for purpose’ relative to WHO's 13th General Programme of Work (GPW13) targets.
Nursing Now seeks to empower nurses to take their place at the heart of tackling 21st century health challenges and maximise their contribution to achieving Universal Health Coverage.
The campaign focuses on five core areas:
- ensuring that nurses and midwives have a more prominent voice in health policy-making
- encouraging greater investment in the nursing workforce
- recruiting more nurses into leadership positions
- conducting research that helps determine where nurses can have the greatest impact
- sharing best nursing practices
The initiative is run as a programme of the Burdett Trust for Nursing in collaboration with WHO and the International Council of Nurses.
We invite you to share your ideas on how to celebrate the year of nurse and midwife.
Email your ideas and suggestions to Gillian.Mannion1@hse.ie.
Find more information on Nursing Now
National Conference to celebrate 2020 the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife
Virtual event to celebrate 2020 the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife
To celebrate the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, we are delighted to invite you to attend a 4-hour online event on 1st October entitled
Reflect, Recover, Renew: Celebrating the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife in Ireland 2020