World Health Day 2020 – Support nurses and midwives

Today (April 7) is World Health Day. A day where people around the world come together to celebrate the critical role health care workers play in keeping the world healthy.

As the COVID-19 pandemic sweeps across the world, the work that doctors, nurses and other health care professionals do has never been more important.

From the provision of treatment and care to community dialogue to address fears and collecting data for clinical studies, health care workers are central to overcoming this crisis.

Their willingness to work long hours on the front line in order to save as many lives as possible has drew admiration and respect everywhere.

World Health Day is organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) who has been leading the global response to coronavirus since it was first identified back in December 2019.

The WHO is highlighting nurses and midwives this year and has launched the first ever State of the World’s Nursing Report.

The report provides a global picture of the nursing workforce and supports evidence-based planning to optimize the contribution of this workforce to improve health and wellbeing for all.

It also makes a number of recommendations to strengthen the nursing and midwifery workforce.

World Health Day aims to driving forward national and global targets in relation to the provision of universal health coverage, maternal and child health, infectious and non-communicable diseases, emergency preparedness and patient safety.

The tagline for World Health Day 2020 is support nurses and midwives.