International Nurses Day 2019
Originally published by Bev Matthews – 9th May 2019
Sunday 12th May is International Nurses Day, a day which was originally suggested back in 1953 but it wasn’t until 1974 that the celebration and the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birthday were brought together.
On this special day I would like to say a massive thank you to all nurses for working individually and collectively, with energy, passion and enthusiasm, to transform perceptions of our profession. Join the growing network of Ambassadors by signing up today
From 1965 the International Council of Nurses as lead on the focus for our celebrations, which for 2019 is ‘Health for All’. This is a precursor to Universal Health Coverage (UHC); where all individuals and communities receive the health services they need without suffering financial hardship. It includes the full spectrum of essential, quality health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care.
UHC was first articulated with appropriate guidelines and actions in the Alma Ata declaration on Primary Healthcare. This Declaration of 1978 emerged as a major milestone of the twentieth century in the field of public health, and it identified primary health care as the key to the attainment of the goal of Health for All.
In support of International Nurses Day 2019 we have developed a resource pack of materials to support Ambassadors to celebrate this key opportunity and continue their work to build positive perceptions.
The resource pack includes:
- Instructions for use
- Nursing Now – global campaign slides
- Nursing Now England Slides
- Templates
- Useful blogs
We are encouraging Ambassadors to share their activities for International Nurses Day 2019 on twitter (using #IND2019 and #NursingNowEngland to make their tweets count), Sharing on the International Council of Nurses website how to Become a Voice to Lead and finally to show your appreciation to your colleagues by saying “Thank you” #ThankYouNurses
“Health for All means that health is brought into reach of everyone in a given country.” Health in this context means not just the availability of health services, but a complete state of physical and mental health that enables a person to lead a socially and economically productive life Mahler, 2016
