This is a momentous time for nursing, according to Jennifer Dohrn, DNP, CNM, FAAN, associate professor of nursing and director of the Office of Global Initiatives and of the school's WHO Collaborating Center at Columbia University School of Nursing.

Dohrn said that in 2017, for example, WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus appointed registered nurse Elizabeth Iro as WHO’s chief nursing officer.

The move opens the door for nursing’s voice to be heard in a powerful way, Dohrn said. “Nurses represent the majority of healthcare providers globally,” Dohrn said. “With the WHO Executive Board declaring 2020 the Year of the Nurse and Midwife, we have an opportunity to tell and show people everywhere what we do and how we are central for people to be healthy. It can give new visibility to our profession, to the larger healthcare team and to the public. We can build on that visibility to push for involvement at leadership and policy bodies.” Dohrn has been working with an advisory committee for the State of the World’s Nursing Report to ensure nursing accomplishments at national and regional levels are documented. She also participated in writing , which gives nurses around the globe a useful plan for how they can promote and strengthen the nursing profession to improve the health of people everywhere.. The WHO campaign is an opportunity for nurses to be heard where they teach and practice, Dohrn said. “At Columbia Nursing, we are looking at ways to use this as a theme for some of our upcoming events,” she said. “With Dean Frazier’s vision and focus on social justice for health equity, we will look at how nursing education at our school teaches about health disparities and what the nursing profession needs to do to provide safe and quality care to enable everyone everywhere to achieve the highest attainable level of health. National nursing organizations and local chapters can take the banner of 2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife to push for changes and reform for nursing practice. And nurses at hospital and community healthcare facilities can organize events to highlight nursing accomplishments and individual experts and heroes. Let’s show the faces of nursing, tell our stories and be heard. In reality, the health of our planet depends on this.” Designating 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and Midwife suggests nurses are being valued and appreciated for the work they do. That’s the culmination of a lifelong goal for Grant and others in the profession, Grant said. “We do evidence-based practice. We do research. We are involved in aspects of innovation and technology,” he said. “Those are things the average person may not picture a nurse being involved with, [yet,] we have been in that arena for quite some time. It’s just now being celebrated and fully understood — the contributions that we make. I think this is a very exciting time to be a nurse.” Nurse leaders in the U.S. and other WHO Member States are integral to ensure the quality and validity of data and participating in dialogue for the State of the World’s Nursing Report and The State of the World’s Midwifery 2020 Report, according to WHO literature.

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