The Director-General, World Health Organisation, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, says the world is facing a shortfall of six million nurses to achieve and sustain universal health coverage.
In an opening remarks at the World Health Assembly, Ghebreyesus said the Assembly was intended to be a moment of recognition for the incredible contribution that nurses and midwives make every day, in every country.
“The pandemic has robbed us of that opportunity. But it has only served to illustrate why nurses, midwives and all health workers are so important.
“Nurses and midwives have been on the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19, putting themselves in harm’s way. Many have made the ultimate sacrifice in service of humanity. Last month, WHO published the first State of the World’s Nursing report.
“It shows that the world is facing a shortfall of 6 million nurses to achieve and sustain universal health coverage.
“But it also provides a roadmap for governments to invest in nursing, to fill that gap and progress towards universal health coverage. Health for all.
“Now more than ever, the world needs nurses and midwives,” Ghebreyesus said.
Reeling out figures, the WHO boss said, “More than 4-and-a-half million cases of COVID-19 have now been reported to WHO, and more than 300,000 people have lost their lives. But numbers don’t even begin to tell the story of this pandemic. Each loss of life leaves a scar for families, communities and nations.
“The health impacts of the pandemic extend far beyond the sickness and death caused by the virus itself.”
According to him, the disruption to health systems threatens to unwind decades of progress against maternal and child mortality, HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, non-communicable diseases, mental health, polio, and many other of the most urgent health threats.
“And yet this is so much more than a health crisis. Lives and livelihoods have been lost or upended.
“Hundreds of millions of people have lost their jobs. Fear and uncertainty abound.
“The global economy is headed for its sharpest contraction since the Great Depression.
“The pandemic has brought out the best – and worst – of humanity: Fortitude and fear; solidarity and suspicion; rapport and recrimination. This contagion exposes the fault lines, inequalities, injustices and contradictions of our modern world.
“It has highlighted our strengths, and our vulnerabilities. Science has been hailed and scorned. Nations have come together as never before, and geopolitical divisions have been thrown into sharp relief.
“We have seen what is possible with cooperation, and what we risk without it. The pandemic is a reminder of the intimate and delicate relationship between people and planet.”
He said any efforts to make the world safer are doomed to fail unless they address the critical interface between people and pathogens, and the existential threat of climate change that is making the earth less habitable.
“For all the economic, military and technological might of nations, we have been humbled by this very small microbe. If this virus is teaching us anything, it’s humility. Time for humility,” he said.
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