World Economic Forum releases key messages from International Council of Nurses as Davos begins

20 January 2025
HC WEF interview

On the first day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, the WEF has released a video interview with Howard Catton, CEO of the International Council of Nurses (ICN). The video relays ICN’s key messages on the economic power of care and the need for investment in nursing and is a direct call for action to global leaders gathered in Davos.

HC WEF interview

ICN’s key messages in the WEF video include:

  • Global nursing shortage: The gap between the supply of nurses and the demand for nurses is not only an issue for population health, but also directly impacts on economic growth and economic recovery.
  • Poor working conditions: Short staffing creates a risk for patients and puts pressure on nurses. Nurses face poor working conditions, violence against nurses and other health care workers and the need for decent, fair pay.
  • Gender inequity: Ninety percent of the world’s nurses are women. Unfortunately, they directly experience the impacts of gender inequity and discrimination resulting in a lack of promotion, fair pay, and lack of leadership opportunities.
  • Nurses need protection: Nursing may be a calling or a vocation but it is also a job and nurses have rights as much as everybody else. “Nurses are ordinary people doing extraordinary work, and we need and we demand the support and protection for them”.
  • Attracting more people to nursing: We should promote nursing as an alternative career to those working in sectors where technology may replace a lot of the human resources that we currently have. Fifty percent of the population are underrepresented in nursing: we should do more to promote nursing to men to meet the shortage, “not as an answer to the inequalities that have been historical and deeply ingrained”.

The release of the WEF video follows the 15 January launch of the WEF’s Global Risks report which highlights the top ten major challenges facing the world. ICN also commented on that report highlighting the dire health consequences of all the risks in the report.

ICN has been supporting the WEF’s work on the care economy for several years, including as part of the Global Future Council on the Future of the Care Economy.

The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, with the theme Collaboration for the Intelligent Age, takes place 20-24 January 2025 in Davos, Switzerland. It convenes global leaders to address key global and regional challenges.