Henry Uche
World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the year 2020 as a year to specially recognise and appreciate nurses and midwives across the globe following their immeasurable contribution towards mankind.
Speaking on the global theme: “Nurses: A Voice to Lead – Nursing the World to Health”, a lead nurse at Africa International Foundation, Julie Mogbo, said this year marks 200th anniversary of the mother of modern day nursing, Florence Nightingale.
Magbo quoted the Director General of WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, thus: “Nurses and midwives are the backbone of every health care system. In 2020, we are calling on countries to invest in nursing and midwifery as part of their commitment to health for all.”
WHO has placed the realization of universal health coverage come 2030 on the shoulders of nurses and midwives, and stressed that any country who wants to realize this objective must as a matter of priority invest heavily in the sector.
Mogbo stressed that since Nurses and midwives constitute the largest workforce within the health care facility, nothing would be more than enough to make them happy. She decried the inhuman treatment meted out to the medical practitioners saying that nurses have suffered so many untold tortures in the hands of those who do not know their value.
“We want government to look into our welfare seriously by equipping and upgrading hospitals, offering scholarships to nursing students to study abroad; providing employment for those who have finished their nursing programmes, upgrading salaries and offering free health care to the people.”
She said every May 12 is International Day of Nurses, but for 2020, it’s celebrated from January through December to raise awareness for the need to alleviate the plight of nurses in the world and to boost global health.