World Health Organisation Declaration Of Year 2020: An Opportunity For A Responsive Government By Isaiah Dada Owoeye
It is an honour for a professional body to be singled out for celebration by the prestigious health organisation in the world. It is indeed a well-deserved one because this group has been in the system of making the society better as the service orientation of the profession is based on altruism to both the sick and well. It is pertinent to state that this profession may have set a record of unity for other health professional association as they are the first body in the world, dated back to 1899, to form a formidable association with aim of qualitative service delivery to human populace. They set a landmark upon which other health institutions followed in constitution of association to the benefit of mankind. This profession has constantly being setting a pace in the projection of her pedigree to the public as it is recognised as the most trusted profession in the world. However, little is reported in the media space about this set of people who provide a selfless service to the public.
It is not surprising that the crusader of the modern initiative of the profession, Florence Nightingale, had a track record and made an indelible footprint in the sands of time. As a visionary lady, in the year 1870s, she worked and envisioned that her people would be praised and appreciated all over the world. In fulfilment of the divine mandate, World Health Organisation (WHO) wades into action and the year 2020 is declared ‘International year of the nurse’. This implies that within a space of about ten decades Nightingale’s word became a reality in our own time. The future word of Nightingale and WHO declaration is a perfect correlation. The descendants of Nightingale, nurses all over the world, were marvelled at the 2020 declaration tagged ‘The year of the nurse’. As nurses were looking forward for manifold celebrations, behold a challenging issue erupted and take its tolls on nurses in different part of the world. No thanks to Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in all senses of reasoning.
The vulnerability of nurses to COVID-19 pandemic is known to all and sundry. Government imposed a lockdown and people were mandated to work from home, but nurses cannot. Nurses are the majority of the work force in the health institution and the foremost frontline officers who are more to the patients than any other health professionals. They are the soldiers fighting the invisible war being waged on the humans by the virus. In regards to the risk on the frontline health workers, standing ovation and rounds of applause were given as rewards to boost the psyche of the health workers. Nevertheless, nurses need more than that in celebration of the years of excellence in service delivery. It is therefore expected that governments respond accordingly.
The Federal Government of Nigeria has the capacity to key into this worldwide initiative of celebrating the year of the nurse. Nurses were available but there was no response from the government part. A laudable initiative of ‘Nursing Now’ is gaining ground in other countries of the world. Scholarships are specially announced for the benefit of nurses in part of the world but where is the place of nurses in the heart of Nigerian Government. Nigeria seems to be the first from behind in echoing the voice of encouragement to nurses.
Nigerian nurses have paid and still paying the ultimate prize. Some have laid their lives down in the course of service to the country. Some died of Ebola virus diseases, Lassa fever and in the present have died of the novel COVID-19 epidemics. It is therefore imperative that effort of our nurse heroes and heroines should not be taking with levity. For the souls of our departed nurses to rest in peace, there would be a need to specially celebrate the profession that was dear to their hearts while alive. Let the message be echoed and re-echoed to the government that year 2020 is the year of the nurse. The year will pass and would not be witnessed in the world history again, but it can only be remembered. This is an ample opportunity for the government to exploit this time in history. The time to act and celebrate nurses is now as posterity rewards in due time.
Isaiah Dada Owoeye, Department of Nursing science, College of Medicine & Health sciences, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State.
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