2020, the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife is fast approaching and with it, a golden opportunity to shine a light on nursing and encourage investment in the nursing workforce. It is critical that policy decisions about the future of the nursing profession are based on accurate and reliable evidence. That’s why the Nursing Now campaign is a central partner in the World Health Organization’s first State of the World’s Nursing Report which will be published on World Health Day in 2020.
The report will be a landmark resource for advocacy in 2020 and beyond providing a more complete picture of the nursing workforce on a global scale. This report will provide the quality evidence needed to engage in policy dialogue with stakeholders on national priorities and investment decisions that strengthen the nursing workforce.
Nursing Now strongly encourages all its groups around the world to engage with this report and play an active role in creating an accurate snapshot of the state of the world’s nursing.
“This is the first time that a report about nursing on a global scale has been produced – it is vital that we ensure that it not only provides an insight into the challenges faced by nurses around the world, but also that we hold governments accountable and demand that positive change is the result,” said Barbara Stilwell, Executive Director, Nursing Now.
Over the coming weeks, Nursing Now is mobilising its network of groups and others to support the development of the report by engaging with senior government nurses and ministries of health to ensure the most accurate reporting by countries on health workforce indicators. The Nursing Now network will have a role to play in raising awareness about the importance of the State of the World’s Nursing Report and helping to engage key stakeholders in the process of data validation and policy dialogue workshops.
So far, more than 80 countries have appointed National Health Workforce Accounts (NHWA) focal points and established multi-sectoral teams to gather, validate and analyse their national data on the health workforce. Nursing Now groups around the world are encouraged to support the NHWA process in the coordination of data reporting activities.
