12th May: International Nurses Day

Since 1965, we have celebrated International Nursing Day on the 12th of May to highlight the important role and contributions of nurses worldwide. For the last 2 years, the theme chosen by the International Council of Nurses is “Nurses: A Voice to Lead”, aiming for nurses to become more active and vocal in policy development and implementation. This year the emphasis is on “Health for all”, which means not only the availability of health services but a complete state of physical and mental health that allows a person to lead a socially and economically productive life. You can learn more on their website.

The date of the 12th of May refers to Florence Nightingale's birthday. She was a pioneer in modern nursing as well as in infection prevention and control. For her, education and training were a crucial foundation for improving hygiene. During the Crimean War, she improved living conditions in the hospital by implementing handwashing and training in other hygiene practices. Thanks to her leadership, hygiene improved in the war hospital, decreasing the death rate of patients.

The focus this year is about the challenge for healthcare workers to bring “Health for all”. At Saraya, we have been supporting the will to end exclusion and disparities in health for years. With our agreement to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we are willing to help in the improvement of sanitation in developing countries through various projects. For instance, with our “100% Hospital Hand Hygiene Project”, we are providing alcohol hand sanitizing systems in hospitals and we are promoting hand-washing education to nurses in order to prevent healthcare infection in East Africa. We think it is important to offer our help to the healthcare workers with the right products to use, as well as with the good education about. It is the best combination to fight infections, improve people's care environment for the well-being and health of patients and workers.

Nurses are main actors of the Global Health Challenge, as they are at the forefront to fight against infections. They are also crucial to improving “Health for all” as they are facing everyday injustices and inequalities. They are also sometimes the only persons that people can talk to. Nurses can give a voice to the most vulnerable and excluded people. They can also make an impact on those they serve.

On this 12th of May, we would like to remind you all about the important role and well work that healthcare workers perform every day! We want to thank especially all the nurses for their professional care.