“PAHO recognizes that in order to attain universal health, transformations must take place in the services, based on the Primary Health Care strategy. Nursing professionals, which compose globally the largest number of health professionals, are key to universal health. Without them, we will not be able to attain it by 2030”. These were the words of PAHO Director, Dr Carissa F. Etienne, during the launching of the Nursing Now campaign in Brazil.
The campaign was launched by the Federal Nursing Council (Conselho Federal de Enfermagem – Cofen), in collaboration with the WHO Collaborating Center for the Development of Nursing Research, linked to the Nursing School of Ribeirão Preto from the University of São Paulo – EERP-USP. The launching took place in Brasília on April 24, with the theme “Where there is life, there is nursing” and has as main objective to present professionals from the field as the true protagonists in health.
Dr. Etienne also highlighted the need of including nurses in all levels of health care, as well as in decision making. “We speak more and more about social participation, of allowing people to sit at the table in order to make decisions at local, departmental and state levels. Usually, nursing professionals are at the front line; they are the ones that understand completely the communities and their dynamics. Without this representation, we lose an important part of the information that must be taken into account in order to formulate policies and make decisions”.
During the launching, the “Brasília Declaration – Valorization of Nursing” was elaborated and released. The document states the commitment of the 26 Brazilian states and the Federal District with the objectives for recognizing the value of nurses in guaranteeing and broadening access to health.
Its goals are as follows:
- Investing in the strengthening of education and development of nursing professionals, with focus on leadership.
- Investing in improvements of work conditions for nursing professionals.
- Disseminating effective and innovative Nursing practices based on scientific evidence, both nationally and regionally.
Launching of the Nursing Now Brazil Campaign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_IAolB7JZM
In consonance with the objective of the campaign, on May 8th, PAHO/WHO celebrated the International Nursing Day with an event, during which the publication “Strategic Guidelines for Nursing in the Region of the Americas” was launched.
The document, available in Portuguese, English and Spanish, presents strategic guidelines for the advancement and strengthening of nursing in health systems and services. It is already indexed and available in the Nursing Database – BDENF, the main source of information of the Nursing Virtual Health Library (VHL).
BIREME, as a PAHO/WHO specialized center for the democratization of information, knowledge and evidence in health, contributes by supporting the building, updating, maintenance and dissemination of the Nursing VHL and BDENF, which are developed collectively by institutions from over seven countries, with the objective of selecting, organizing and disseminating high quality scientific and technical information in the field of Nursing. The database has over 41000 selected bibliographic records, of which approximately 26000 contain a link to the full text. The BDENF indexes 37 journals, evaluated and approved by the Journal Evaluation Committee of the Nursing VHL, in addition to theses, dissertations, clinical practice guides, evaluated systematic reviews, among other documents.
According to Joanita Barros, BIREME focal point for this initiative, “the Nursing VHL and BDENF collaborate to provide quality information on the field to be released and be accessible for the nursing community. This is certainly an essential channel for contributing to the achievement of the Nursing Now campaign objectives, especially Objective 3 – Disseminating effective and innovative Nursing practices based on scientific evidence, both nationally and regionally”.
About the Nursing Now campaign
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Council of Nurses (ICN) launched in London, on February 2018, the Nursing Now global campaign, with the objective of raising the profile and status of nurses around the world, influencing policy makers and supporting nurses themselves to lead, learn and build a global movement for facing the health challenges of the 21st century, in search of a global improvement in health.
Nursing Now works with partners around the world in order to position nurses in leading roles and to help them reach the influence they deserve, to have access to better education and training, and at the same time to share research and evidence on effective practices.
The campaign will last for three years, ending at the end of 2020, year of the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth. Florence Nightingale is considered the “mother” of modern nursing, and 2020 will be the year in which nurses will be celebrated around the world.
Sources:
Nursing Now Brazil | The global Campaign reaches the country: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_IAolB7JZM (in Portuguese)
Nursing Now: https://www.nursingnow.org/
Nursing Now Brazil: http://nursingnowbr.org/ (in Portuguese)
Carta de Brasília– Valorização da Enfermagem http://nursingnowbrasil.com.br/arquivos/carta_de_brasilia.pdf (in Portuguese)
Brazil joins the Nursing Now campaign in order to strengthen the role of nurses in the elimination of obstacles for access to health: https://www.paho.org/bra/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5923:brasil-adere-a-campanha-nursing-now-para-fortalecer-papel-de-enfermeiras-e-enfermeiros-na-eliminacao-de-barreiras-ao-acesso-a-saude&Itemid=844 (in Portuguese)
Organização Pan-Americana da Saúde. Diretriz estratégica para a enfermagem na Região das Américas. Washington, D.C : OPAS; 2019:http://iris.paho.org/xmlui/handle/123456789/50956
Program for the celebration of International Nursing Day: http://www.ee.usp.br/eventos/2019/Programacao_OPAS.pdf
BVS Enfermagem Internacional: http://bvsenfermeria.bvsalud.org/
PAHO Director participates in the launching of the Nursing Now Brazil campaign: https://intra.paho.org/countries-centers/bra/Paginas/diretora-da-opas-participa-de-lan%C3%A7amento-da-campanha-nursing-now-brasil.aspx (in Portuguese)