April 7 of every year is celebrated as World Health Day by the WHO. It is celebrated to create awareness on the importance of health.
Every year, World Health Day has a specific theme to highlight an area of concern. WHO has declared 2020 as the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife. This is to mark the 200 birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale.
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Nurses and midwives play a key role in caring for people everywhere. Including in times of outbreaks and settings that are fragile or in conflict.
Globally, 70% of the health and social workforce are women. Nurses and midwives represent a large portion of this. There is a global shortage of health workers, in particular nurses and midwives
WHO estimates that the world will need an additional 9 million nurses and midwives by the year 2030.
Nurses play a critical role in health promotion, disease prevention and delivering primary and community care. Now nurses and other health workers are at the forefront of COVID-19 response
This World Health Day, the WHO aims at strengthening the nursing and midwifery workforces for universal health coverage. This includes maternal and child health, infectious and non-communicable diseases including mental health, patient safety and the delivery of people-centered care.
