The International Council of Nurses (ICN), a member of the Global Coalition for Circulatory Health, recently helped launch the Nursing Now campaign, a three-year global initiative which aims to raise the status and profile of nursing to improve health and enable nurses to maximize their contributions to ensuring that everyone everywhere has access to health and healthcare.
Nurses are at the heart of most health teams, playing a crucial role in health promotion, disease prevention and treatment. As the health professionals who are closest to the community, they have a particular role in developing new models of community-based care and support local efforts to promote health and prevent disease.
Nursing Now, a collaboration with ICN and the World Health Organization, will run to the end of 2020, the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth and a year when nurses will be celebrated worldwide. The campaign is based on the findings of the Triple Impact report, which concluded that as well as improving health globally, empowering nurses would contribute to improved gender equality – as the vast majority of nurses are still women – and build stronger economies.
On Tuesday 27 February, Nursing Now held launch events and activities across the world, including the UK, Switzerland, Jamaica, USA, Jordan and South Africa. More than 30 countries were represented and people pledged their support and joined the campaign from around the world.
ICN President Annette Kennedy said: “The International Council of Nurses is proud to be part of Nursing Now. Through our 133 national nursing associations, we know of the great work nurses are doing to deliver care and improve health, but we also know how tough their working lives can be. Nurses are the answer but we need real investment and support.”
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Watch the launch event