April 7th marks the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the observance of World Health Day. The special awareness day was established in 1948 by the first World Health Assembly (WHA). The WHA is the governing body over the World Health Organization (WHO), the sponsor of World Health Day.
As a part of its foundation, WHO created a definition of health that hasn’t needed to be altered since:
"Health is a a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
The organization’s team, headquartered in
Geneva, Switzerland, has worked to advance health through the last
70-plus years. More than 7,000 work for the World Health Organization
across 150 countries.
Typically,
the WHO “organizes international, regional, and local events” for World
Health Day devoted to a selected theme.This year’s World Health Day theme couldn’t be more apt as it is
dedicated to honour the fundamental role nurses and midwives play in the health system, across the globe. However, given the current Coronavirus pandemic, the day is likely to
be observed primarily, if not exclusively, via digital media, but amid this world pandemic with incalculable consequences for humankind, the
invaluable contribution these roles play is as apparent as ever, after all without them there would be no COVID-19 response.The WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020. By issuing prompt action with COVID-19, WHO spurred nations to develop intense action plans to help contain the novel coronavirus. As the coronavirus continues to spread across 200+ countries and territories, with more than a million cases diagnosed and significant loss of life, the ability to respond by limiting transmission, keeping vulnerable populations safe, and maintaining a functional health system will determine the speed of recovery in each country. Unfortunately,most countries are ill-equipped to respond to a pandemic of this scale. Part of this can be attributed to shortages and limitations of the nursing workforce.
As the pandemic sweeps the globe nurses are on the front lines of the response and are going above and beyond to keep health systems functional.Physically and mentally exhausted, nurses are working around the clock to provide care, putting themselves and their families at risk of infection. And they’re doing so in a setting where personal protective equipment supplies are dwindling.
Even before the crisis, the global nursing workforce was not growing fast enough to meet universal health coverage targets and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Although the global shortage of nurses slightly decreased from 6.6 million in 2016 to 5.9 million in 2018, almost 90% of the deficit is in low- and lower-middle-income countries. Here the number of trained nurses is barely keeping pace with population growth. Health emergencies exacerbate these imbalances and put further stress on the existing health workforce. Nurses are frequently the first and highest-level provider for primary care. They are essential to expanding delivery of health services to remote populations.Evidence shows that nurses are also instrumental in improving health sector productivity. and patient outcomes, and they are less expensive to train and deploy than other professional health workers. Investing in the nursing workforce presents a triple return on health, economic growth, and gender equity.
The global health organisation, along with its partners, will make a series of recommendations to strengthen the nursing and midwifery workforce worldwide.
According to the WHO, a strengthened workforce of nurses and midwives is significant to ensure that everyone gets the healthcare they need and for countries to achieve their “national and global targets related to universal health coverage, maternal and child health, infectious and non-communicable diseases including mental health, emergency preparedness and response, patient safety and the delivery of integrated, people-centered care, amongst others”.
World Health Day comes this year at a time when the entire globe is struggling to contain the spread of novel coronavirus. Prioritizing and protecting the health care workforce is critical now — not only because their own lives are at risk, but also because patients rely on them to continue providing care. As the coronavirus continues to spread in the weeks and months ahead the world is at risk of exhausting our nurses at a time when we need them most. It's incredibly important for us to honor and show gratitude towards all of the people working at the hospitals, that have to continued to go to work when a lot of people around the world are staying at home and they’re putting themselves at risk every single day to go into the hospitals and be around people that have the Coronavirus. They’re also working incredibly long hours. I imagine their stress levels are through the roof. It's so important for us to celebrate these people that are doing things that I can’t imagine during this time. The Covid -19 pandemic has bought to plain sight the burden these care givers carry as they work so hard to ensure the rest of us enjoy good health and has exposed the fragile health system that we have been previously been taking for granted.
A lot of us feel helpless at this present time. We feel helpless for our own health. We may feel more helpless than ever being in our homes and isolated from one another. What we can do is turn our attention away from the daily superficial things that we may be used to doing and reflect on what’s most important to us and how we can contribute to society.So today let's celebrate the nurses, midwives and all health workers who are heroically on the COVID-19 frontline, take a moment to thank them and show them your appreciation. for keeping us healthy.They are your neighbors, friends, and family. The majority of frontline health workers are women. Without them, there would be no health services for millions of families worldwide.They are the backbone of effective health systems and often come from the very communities they serve. Let’s remember that now more than ever, we must play our part, too, and do all within our power to keep critical healthcare workers safe.
