“Nurses and midwives are central to achieving health for all and the Sustainable Development Goals. The World Health Organization is proud to be working with the International Council of Nurses and the Burdett Trust to support the Nursing Now campaign and its vision of improving health globally through empowering nurses everywhere.”
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO
Since his appointment, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has made specific commitments to supporting the role of nurses and midwives in achieving the WHO’s 13th General Programme of Work (GPW13). In an information session today, Achieving the Triple Billion Goals: The role of nursing and midwifery, the Director-General highlighted WHO's efforts in nursing and midwifery through its engagement in the Nursing Now Campaign and leadership on two reports: the State of the World’s Midwifery 2020 report, and the first-ever State of the World’s Nursing report, both planned for release in 2020. During the session, WHO, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) and the Burdett Trust for Nursing signed a Memorandum of Understanding to reaffirm their commitment to and collaboration on the Nursing Now campaign.
The Nursing Now Campaign
The Nursing Now campaign is a three-year effort (2018-2020) to improve health globally by raising the status of nursing and enabling nurses to maximize their contribution to achieving universal health coverage (UHC). The Director-General launched the global campaign in Geneva in February and over 40 national campaigns have been launched since, with dozens more planned. The national launches are an opportunity to raise awareness about health priorities and inform policy actions related to nursing and the health workforce consistent with the WHO Strategic Directions for Nursing and Midwifery and the Global Strategy for Human Resources for Health: Workforce 2030.
Technical reports on Nursing and Midwifery Workforces
The Health Workforce Department is preparing a technical report on nursing to be presented to the 73rd World Health Assembly in 2020. The first-ever State of the World’s Nursing will describe the nursing workforce in WHO Member States, providing an assessment of “fitness for purpose” relative to GPW13 targets. The State of the World’s Midwifery 2020 report is the third global report on the midwifery workforce.
The campaign and the two technical reports are particularly important given that nurses and midwives constitute more than 50% of the health workforce in many countries, and also more than 50% of the shortfall in the global health workforce to 2030. Strengthening nursing will have the additional benefits of promoting gender equity (SDG5), contributing to economic development (SDG8) and supporting other Sustainable Development Goals.