End of Year Greetings from Dr Pamela Cipriano, President, International Council of Nurses
Dear colleagues,
As 2022 draws to a close, I’m delighted to send greetings on behalf of the Board and staff of ICN to our more than 130 national nursing association members and the 28 million nurses across the world.
This has been the first year in my presidency and it has been a challenging year for nurses across the globe. As many countries emerge from the more serious threats of COVID-19, nurses are still suffering the effects of the pandemic, facing workforce shortages, lack of resources, low pay and inadequate working conditions. This, combined with global political and socioeconomical crises, is making many nurses consider leaving the profession and we have seen industrial action by nurses in many countries, as they fight for the recognition, the value and the reward they deserve.
But there are also many bright spots that bring hope and reinforce our confidence in the resilience of nurses and the leaders of our national nursing associations.
ICN continues to lobby at the highest levels of decision and policy-making for equitable access to vaccines, for nurses’ rights and safety. This year, we produced a number of important publications, fact sheets, statements and other reports showing the effect of the pandemic on the nursing workforce and insisting on action to halt the exodus from the from the profession. We are repeatedly calling for new thinking and action to invest more in nursing in every country.
We will continue to fight for nurses in 2023. For International Nurses Day 2023, we have chosen the theme Our Nurses. Our Future. We will launch this as a year-long campaign to raise the profile of nurses and show that investment in nursing will bring about the changes needed to improve health globally.
As President of ICN, my vision for 2023 is to bring the nursing world together as a global force to further influence policy makers in order to improve global health. We must work together to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and Universal Health Coverage by 2030 – just seven years away. To do this, we need urgent action to recruit and educate more nurses as well as support our current nursing workforce. ICN will continue to develop nursing leaders to strengthen and improve future health systems. To fulfil this important role, all nurses must be protected, respected and valued. As the global voice of nurses, ICN will lead this work to support and enable nurses to lead innovative and impactful health care solutions to our greatest health challenges.
It has been an exciting and successful year for ICN and nursing across the world. I thank all of you for supporting ICN and our work. We are so excited to meet many of you at the ICN CNR and Congress in Montreal next July!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you do for nurses, for patients, for communities, for the world! We have achieved so much in 2022 and I look forward to our progress in 2023!