21 April 2020
The State of the world’s nursing 2020 report released by the World Health Organization provides the most up-to-date evidence on and policy options for the global nursing workforce. It also, says WHO, presents a compelling case for considerable investment in nursing education, jobs, and leadership.
“2020 is the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife. This is an opportunity to leverage the evidence in the State of the world’s nursing 2020 report and commit to an agenda that will drive and sustain progress to 2030,’’ says WHO. “To this end, we urge governments and all relevant stakeholders to:
- invest in the massive acceleration of nursing education – faculty, infrastructure and students – to address global needs, meet domestic demand, and respond to changing technologies and advancing models of integrated health and social care;
- create at least 6 million new nursing jobs by 2030, primarily in low- and middle-income countries, to offset the projected shortages and redress the inequitable distribution of nurses across the world;
- strengthen nurse leadership – both current and future leaders – to ensure that nurses have an influential role in health policy formulation and decision-making, and
- contribute to the effectiveness of health and social care systems.
The report also has a breakdown of the nursing scene in individual countries. In Australia the 287,405 nursing personal make up 66% of the health workforce, 89% of them female.
Nursing figures are projected to drop to a figure above 250,000 by 2030.
View the report at: www.who.int