In 2020 – the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife – nurses have taken center stage. As COVID-19 cases continue to surge in many parts of the world, nurses are playing an instrumental role to provide quality care and save more lives, sometimes with great personal sacrifice to their physical and mental health. This is not new: nurses have consistently helped the world tackle health emergencies. From the Taiwanese nurses who developed new strategies to confront the SARS outbreak, to the Liberian nurses who kept caring for patients at the height of the Ebola emergency, nurses are central to pandemic and recovery responses.
Like many others on the frontlines, the vast majority of the world’s nurses are women and few hold positions of power in global health, despite strong evidence that this would improve overall health outcomes. Historically, nurses’ needs and perspectives have not been adequately reflected in policy or funding decisions, which is again playing out on the global stage. Now, more than ever, as nurses boldly move forward – putting their lives at risk for their communities – we must deliver the resources and tools they need to do their jobs. In this webinar hosted by WomenLift Health we hear from three individuals who are demanding the world take action to support nurses during this pandemic and beyond.
