ICN at WHA79: Nursing powers essential to global health — but urgent action needed to protect them

The International Council of Nurses (ICN) brought a strong nursing voice to the 79th World Health Assembly (WHA79), which closed on Saturday 23 May, demonstrating that empowered nursing workforces advance the full global health agenda.

Speaking at the close of WHA79, ICN President José Luis Cobos Serrano highlighted the urgency of the moment and the power of nursing to respond to it, saying:

"Dr Tedros's opening WHA address recognized that the largest part of the world's health worker shortage is nurses, a shortfall requiring bold and immediate action. With a global shortage of 5.8 million nurses and WHO warning the world will miss every health target by 2030 without urgent action, investing in nursing has never been more urgent.

Just before WHA79, we published our IND report, with the theme Empowered Nurses Save Lives, and ICN brought evidence of nursing powers to the world's most important health policy forum — including the power of trust, of numbers, of practice, of proximity, and of peace. But these powers will be weakened unless the world invests in and protects the nurses who deliver them. Failures to provide adequate PPE to nurses on the front lines of the current Ebola emergency and the alarming rise in attacks on health care in conflict are unacceptable. There can be no global health security without protecting and structurally empowering the world’s nurses.”

ICN's in-person delegation was led by ICN President José Luis Cobos Serrano and included First Vice President Sineva Ribeiro, CEO Howard Catton, ICN Senior Policy Advisors and the ICN Alliance of Student and Early Career Nurses Chair, together with a virtual delegation of over 150 nurse leaders worldwide. ICN delivered formal statements on key agenda items and hosted or co-hosted major events including an ICN-WHO event, the ICN Luncheon, World Health Professions Alliance (WHPA) sessions, and a Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO) event, and participated in over 50 meetings, side events, and bilateral engagements. ICN President José Luis Cobos Serrano held high-level bilateral meetings with delegations including Brazil, Norway, Cambodia, Barbados, Latvia, Palau, and the Philippines, discussing in-country nursing situations and ICN support. ICN leaders also held Ministerial discussions and met with a wide range of organizations and partners including the International Confederation of Midwives, Direct Relief, WONCA, and the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH). Read ICN’s full WHA79 writeup for more details.

WHA79 convened against a backdrop of escalating public health emergencies, including the devastating Ebola outbreaks that have tragically cost health workers and at least one nurse their lives (see ICN’s full Press Release). Ongoing geopolitical uncertainty and conflicts, severe cuts to global health funding, and the ongoing restructuring of WHO made this WHA a defining moment for global health. The Assembly adopted several key decisions and resolutions directly relevant to ICN’s work and advocacy, including a landmark Strategy on the Economics of Health for All (2026–2030), the first update to the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel in 16 years, and resolutions on emergency care and digital health.

ICN First Vice President Sineva Ribeiro reflected on the significance of these outcomes and the centrality of nursing leadership, saying:

"WHA79 showed beyond doubt that the global health agenda is a nursing agenda. Across every outcome — from emergency preparedness to the economics of health for all — the nursing and health workforce is the essential force that turns policy into practice. Nurses do not only implement health policy; they shape it, at national, regional, and global levels. We must now ensure that these landmark commitments are matched by the urgency they demand. The world cannot achieve universal health coverage or keep populations safe without sufficient, supported, and empowered nurses."

ICN CEO Howard Catton emphasized the imperative to deliver on the week's commitments:

 "As Dr Tedros said in his closing remarks: 'Every resolution only has value when it changes what happens in a clinic, in a community, or in a household — when a health worker has what they need to do their job.' It is time to make these resolutions a reality.

´At last year's WHA, Member States committed to accelerate the Global Strategic Directions for Nursing and Midwifery, which ICN lobbied hard for. We must now translate that mandate — and this year's commitments — into funded national workforce plans, decent conditions, and structural empowerment. As WHO enters a new era, ICN will drive forward our work to protect all nurses, ensure nursing remains at the very heart of global health decisions, and support every nurse and nursing association — for the good and health of all."