A short note from Dr. David Wang on International Nurses Day:
International Nurses Day is observed every May on the anniversary of nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale’s birth, helping celebrate the contributions of nurses around the world. The observance is organised by the International Council of Nurses (ICN), a group of more than 130 national nursing associations representing over 27 million nurses worldwide. Every year, the ICN prepares and distributes the International Nurses' Day kit, which provides educational and public information materials that can be used by nurses around the world.
This year, the theme is “Nurses: A Voice to Lead - Invest in nursing and respect rights to secure global health".1 As the world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, further investment in nursing is as important as ever. Yet there is a global shortage of health workers, with nurses and midwives accounting for more than 50% of total staff shortages.2
Nurses are crucial to health promotion, disease prevention and the safe delivery of primary and community care. When people fall ill, nurses can often be the first and only health professionals they visit, so it is critical to support members of this profession so they can deliver the highest quality of care possible.
At UnitedHealthcare Global, our members are connected to a wide provider network globally to help them find the best care for each situation.3 We want to extend our sincere gratitude to all the nurses in our network and beyond. Without them, proper healthcare could not operate, as they offer vital support to physicians and patients the world over.
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Resources:
1: https://www.icn.ch/what-we-do/campaigns/international-nurses-day
2: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/nursing-and-midwifery
3: https://www.uhc.com/find-a-doctor