WHO Developing State of the World’s Nursing Report

January 20, 2020 by Alec Stone MA, MPA, Former ONS Director of Government Affairs and Advocacy
alec stone
Alec Stone MA, MPA, ONS Public Affairs Director

In celebration and recognition of Florence Nightingale’s 200th birthday, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated 2020 (https://www.who.int/hrh/news/2019/2020year-of-nurses/en/) as the “Year of the Nurse and Midwife.” As part of this initiative, WHO is holding seminars, publishing papers, and is developing the first-ever State of the World’s Nursing report which will release at the 73rd World Health Assembly.

According to WHO, “The State of the World’s Nursing report will describe how the nursing workforce will help deliver universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals and highlight areas for policy development for the next three to five years.”

Recognizing the vast contributions of nurses and midwives everywhere, WHO’s State of the Nursing Report will highlight significant elements of the professions (https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/nursing-and-midwifery), why 2020 was designated to bring awareness to their work, and the strides nurses have made to help WHO achieve is overarching healthcare goals:

The organization also noted that nursing leaders and their home networks are central to ensuring the validity of data for the report and critical in ongoing policy discussions.

At ONS, every year is the year of the nurse (https://voice.ons.org/news-and-views/every-year-is-the-year-of-the-nurse). Its members will be vital to the ongoing conversations and efforts spanning WHO’s global initiative. Learn more and get involved to advocate for your profession (https://voice.ons.org/advocacy/get-involved)—now and in the future.


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