Rwanda Nurses and Midwives Union on May 12, 2022 joined the rest of the world to celebrate International Nurses Day. This day coincided with the anniversary to celebrate the birth of Florence Nightingale.
As announced by the International Council of Nurses (ICN), the theme for International Nurses Day 2022 celebrations was Nurses: Invest in Nursing and respect rights to secure global health.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the world the important role nurses play not only in Rwanda but also globally. Whereas there has been significant disruption to healthcare service delivery, there has been great innovation that has improved access to health care hence the need for all stakeholders within the nursing and midwifery professional value chain to tremendously increase / invest in the nursing and midwifery profession.
According to ICN, nurses across the world overcome incredible challenges to care for their patients and communities. These challenges have been heightened during the past two years by the COVID-19 pandemic. Several recent critically important reports address the issues facing the nursing profession, such as the global nursing shortage, the ageing nursing workforce, the mass traumatization of nurses, the lack of protection, the increasing workloads and low salaries, all of which have led to many calls for investment in the nursing workforce in order to meet healthcare needs now and in the future.
Andre Gitembagara the RNMU president emphasized the need to address the shortage of nurses, working conditions and supporting nurses and midwives to better their profession, challenges that not only affect nurses and midwives in Rwanda but Africa and the world at large.
Andre further called for increase in investment in the nursing profession. There is need for government and investors to increase investment in the nursing and midwifery profession.
This year’s celebrations further aimed at increasing public awareness about midwives and nurses’ contribution towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and Health Care Innovation, celebrate their story and to inspire nurses and midwives to influence their surroundings and communities to create a healthier world.
It was an opportunity for Nurses and Midwives to evaluate and celebrate their achievements and fix new targets at at their respective levels of engagement.
Just as it is at the global level, Nurses and Midwives are the majority of health care providers in Rwanda, They contribute around 70 % of registered health providers in Rwanda. It is no doubt that Nurses and Midwives are contributing a lot in most of SDGs implementation.
This year activities focused on:
- Invest in nursing education
- Invest in nursing jobs
- Invest in nursing leadership
- Invest in nurses for service delivery
- Invest in and prioritize the safety of nurse and healthcare workers
- Invest in and prioritize care for the health and well being of nurses
International Nursing Day was celebrated by Nurses across the country and was punctuated by a long week of activities like;
- Sexual Reproductive Health, prevention of teenage pregnancy campaign, encouraging young people to use youth corners in schools and health centers in 12 years’ basic education of KAMONYI District.
- Media awareness campaigns on Television, Community Radios, online and Print media
- Community outreach activities like screening of NCDs and COVID – 19 vaccinations at Kabuga Market and Kimironko Market and at various health facilities across the country.
- Rehabilitation and renovation of houses for 2 most vulnerable house holds in Ntarama sector in Bugesera District
- Offering Community Health Insurance (Mutuelle de Santé) to 1000 vulnerable individuals in Bugesera District.
Cheque for Community Based Health Insurance (Mutuelle de Santé) contribution
One of the houses for the vulnerable survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi that was renovated in Ntarama Sector Bugesera District
NCDs and Vaccination activities in Kimironko Market Gasabo District
