Thie year, World Health Day falls in the middle of a global pandemic when the need for accessible healthcare cannot be stressed more.
In the novel coronavirus health emergency, we know that healthcare workers are our frontline heroes who need protection and respect.
This World Health Day is themed to honour some unsung heroes of the healthcare workforce: nurses and midwives.
According to a WHO South Asia press release, South Asian countries need to increase efforts to “expand their nurses and midwives’ cadre by 1.9 million to achieve health for all by 2030.”
The WHO required minimum is of 40 nurses by 10 000 population; by contrast, our regional average is of 37 nurses per 10 000 population.
“We need to increase the number of nurses and improve nursing education; we need to improve the number of jobs for nurses, their quality and distribution in rural and marginalized areas; and we need to enhance leadership, management and the assignment of specialized roles for nurses,” said Dr Singh in the WHO press release.
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