10 February 2019 ‒ On 30 January 2019, during the 144th World Health Organization Executive Board (EB) meeting, WHO’s Director-General announced 2020 as the “Year of the Nurse and Midwife”, celebrating nursing and midwifery around the world.
Debra Thomas, a chief nursing and midwifery officer from Australia, chaired sessions of the EB as one of its vice presidents. A number of Member States voiced support for the Year of the Nurse, and the Executive Board room burst into applause as it was announced.
In 2020, the World Health Day (7 April ) and the 73rd World Health Assembly in May will likely feature nursing and midwifery themes. The first-ever State of the World’s Nursing report and the State of the World’s Midwifery 2020 report will both be launched in 2020.
WHO’s State of the World’s Nursing report will describe how the nursing workforce will help deliver universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and highlight areas for policy development for the next 3 to 5 years. It will also provide a description of the nursing workforce in Member States, including the number and types of nurses, education, regulation, practice, leadership, and gender issues.
The reports will inform national policy dialogue on strengthening nursing and midwifery and accelerating progress across the SDGs. The evidence base on the role of nurses and midwives can help drive the development of national workforces and unlock investment in nursing, midwifery and the gender equity agendas for generations. The State of the World’s Midwifery 2020 will report on the progress and future challenges to deliver effective coverage and quality midwifery services. This will be the third State of the World’s Midwifery report.
The Ninth Global Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers’ Forum and Eighth Triad Meeting in 2020 will focus on the reports and how Global Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers’ can leverage the findings for policy dialogue around nursing and midwifery at the 73rd WHA and at home.
Related links
Tweet from WHO's Director-General
ICN’s intervention to the Executive Board
Information of the world’s nursing and midwifery reports 2020
