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National

Nursing Day message-Invest in nursing and respect rights to secure global health

PUNJAB NEWS EXPRESS | May 18, 2022 05:36 PM

By Dr. Kamaljeet Kaur, rincipal, Khalsa College of Nursing Amritsar
AMRITSAR: Each year, International Council of Nurses observes the “International Nurses Day” held on May12th the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth.

This year of 2022, the International Council of Nurses has declared the new theme for International Nurses Day (IND) “Invest in Nursing and respect rights to secure global health”, focusing on the need to protect, support and invest in the nursing profession to strengthen health systems around the world.
International Council of Nurses has launched a compilation of case studies submitted by nurses across the world to showcase the incredible extent of creative work nurses do every day. These innovative highlights throughout the year reflect the services delivered by nurses to care for those with COVID-19 throughout the pandemic, along with the wide variety of Nursing services that continued throughout the pandemic to care for those suffering with other conditions, though in hospital, communities at grass root level & homes, nurses provide accessible, affordable, an individual centered, holistic care for all, specifically the vulnerable strata of the society i.e Children, pregnant women, lactating mothers, elderly and all other under privileged communities. The Covid-19 pandemic has surfaced weaknesses caused by underinvestment in health system around the world.

The theme for International Day 2022 conveys the strong message to invest to build a resilient, highly qualified & technically skilled nursing force and to protect nurses rights in order to transform health system to meet the current needs of the individuals and communities now & into the future to sustain safe health & save lives of the masses at large. It has been observed that nurses have suffered tremendously throughout the pandemic. They have been un-necessarily exposed to the deadly virus, faced attacks from the public, also suffered from extreme workload, and remained to be invisible, unsung, underpaid & undervalued.

If the policy makers & subsequent Governments/ Political leaders continue to put off investing in the health workforce, it will be drastic detriment of the health systems everywhere. There is no health without a health work force & it will be a distant dream to achieve health for all as being advocated by the World Health Organization. So, briefly there is dire need to provide safe environment with viable working conditions, decent wages for social empowerment with full active participation in decision making. Various state Govts ultimately Central Government itself need to think globally to be truly practical locally to Invest in Nursing & Respect Rights to Secure local & Global Health.

Nurses from every corner of the world must strongly raise their voice to win the political will of the respective Govts to facilitate all basic amenities to every individual of the planet to create communities self reliance with active public participation to make it possible achieving the goal of universal health coverage.

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