KATHMANDU, MAY 12

The World Health Organisation South-East Asia Region has stressed the need for all the countries globally and in this region, including Nepal, to increase investment in nurses, midwives, and other frontline health workers in an attempt to build a resilient, primary health care-oriented health systems that would meet the needs of individuals and communities.

According to a press statement on the occasion of the International Nurses Day today, New Delhi-based WHO Regional Office of the region has now met and surpassed the original WHO threshold of 22.8 doctors, nurses and midwives per 10,000 popula-tion. Although the region is still short of the global benchmark density of 27.4 nurses per 10,000 population, it has a relatively young workforce that can and must be rapidly scaled. All member states, including Nepal, continue to implement national action plans to strengthen the nursing and midwifery workforceand are committed to acceleratingprogress based on the 12 policy priorities and four strategic directions - education, jobs, leadership and service delivery - of the Global Strategic Directions for Nursing and Midwifery, adopted at the 74th World Health Assembly in 2021.

The International Nurses Day follows the May 5 cele-bration of the International Day of the Midwife. The theme of this year's International Nurses Day is 'Nurses: A Voice to Lead – Invest in nursing and respect rights to secure global health'.

As per WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, since 2015 the region has increased the availability of doctors, nurses and midwives by one fifth, in line with its Decade for Health Workforce Strengthening 2014– 2024 and the WHO Regional Midwifery Strategy for South- East Asia 2020–2024, and in accordance with its Flagship Priorities on achieving universal health coverage andaccelerating reductions of maternal, neonatal and under-five mortality.

'Of specific importance to today's celebration - and to achieving several Sustainable Development Goal targets, including on health and well-being for all and gender equality - is the need to invest in the leadership skills of both young and senior level nursesand midwives, with the overall aim of strengthening workforce governance, management, service delivery and input into health policy.'

According to Dr Kshetrapal Singh, evidence shows that by empowering nurses in health services, policymaking and administrative works can improve the quality ofcare and achieve better health outcomes, including fewer hospital-acquired infections, reduce costs, and increase staff retention and innovation.

'Increased investments in nursing and midwifery will have lasting economic benefits, which are especially important to help recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as achieve SDG8, promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, and provide full and productive employment and decent work for all. The health and social care sector is one of the largest and fastest growing employment sectors in the world, particularly in lowand middle-income countries, and especially for women,' she said.

A version of this article appears in the print on May 13, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.