They devote their lives to caring for us all and make up the foundation of the health profession, so it’s fitting that 2020 has been designated as the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife in the same year as the biggest health crisis in living memory.
Around the world, nurses and midwives have borne the brunt of the pandemic, working around the clock to help save lives and keep people safe, so when the World Health Assembly declared 2020 their year, advocates have used this time in the spotlight to draw attention to the often challenging conditions that these essential workers face as they campaign for increased investment in the nursing and midwifery fields.
With nine million more nurses and midwives needed to achieve the World Health Organisation’s goal of universal health coverage by 2030, many health organisations have used the declaration to promote their next generation of nurses and midwives, with Central Coast Local Health District being no exception.
The District recently put the spotlight on its undergraduate student nurses with an initiative that showcased the diverse reasons why they’d chosen to become a nurse.
While the answers varied, they were all underpinned by one single tenet, the desire to help people.
Dilon Luke