2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife webinar - November 2019

Almost 200 nurses from around the world joined a Nursing Now-hosted webinar on the Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

The webinar gave an overview of key events planned for 2020 and encouraged individual nurses and organisations to come up with their own ways to mark this special year-long celebration.

The webinar was chaired by ICN Chief Executive Howard Catton, who said he hoped all nurse would use their New Year resolutions to commit to making the 2020 as effective as possible.

“I want nurses to make 2020 a fantastic year of celebration for our profession and create a step change in the way patients, the public, politicians and policymakers think of and see our profession. I want it to set up our profession with the support and investment that we need to enable us to deliver the global health challenges that we all face.”

World Health Organization Chief Nursing Officer Elizabeth Iro, who was also speaking in the webinar, said the Year of the Nurse is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the profession.

“It’s a celebration and an opportunity to contribute and highlight what we can do for achieving universal health coverage and primary health care. It’s also an opportunity to reflect and then move forward as to how best we can address the 18 million shortfall of health workers. We need to make the most of driving the investment case for nursing and midwifery.”

Nursing Now Executive Director Barbara Stillwell said she hoped nurses would work together across traditional boundaries to showcase the profession and why governments should be investing in it.

“We need to get the Year of the Nurse going with a huge bang and we need that to resonate around the world,” Dr Stillwell said.

Key events for 2020 include:

• A letter to all heads of state and community and religious leaders asking them to talk about the Year of the Nurse in their New Year messages

• The launch of the World Health Organization’s State of the World’s Nursing report
• International Nurses Day celebrations, coinciding with the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth
• A huge nursing presence at the World Health Assembly in Geneva in May
• The Nightingale 2020 conference in London in October
• The fulfilment of the Nightingale Challenge to give 20,000 young nurses leadership training

Mr Catton said he hoped the Year of the Nurse would mark a step-change in public attitudes and understanding of nursing, convince politicians and policymakers about the need to invest in nursing, and leave a long-lasting legacy for the profession.

Find more information on the webinar here

Listen to the webinar audio recording here