Erbil j. nurs. midwifery, Vol. 2, No. (2),Nov, 2019 

 

The Year of the Nurse and Midwife: an effort worth joining? 
 

Eva Said; MSc degree of Adult Nursing, Chief at Nursing and Midwifery Development Centre, Erbil, Iraq.   
evasaid1@gmail.com  

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       The World Health Organization has 
designated the year 2020 as The Year of 
the Nurse and Midwife in tribute to Flor-
ence Nightingale who was born 200 years 
ago. The decision to dedicate a whole year 
to nursing and midwifery has not been 
made only to remember and celebrate the 
founder of modern nursing. It was made to     
recognize the importance of these caring 
professions for global health and the 
health care systems and for society as a 
whole.  
There is no doubt that nurses and mid-
wives worldwide will embrace the Year of 
the Nurse and Midwife and will use it to 
reflect on the past, present and future of 
their work, think about the challenges they 
have faced and the achievements they 
have accomplished. There will be events to 
remind ourselves and others why we have 
become nurses and midwives and to con-
template on how we can advance our pro-
fessions for the health and wellbeing of the 
people. 
 What does the Year of the Nurse and Mid-
wife mean for nurses and midwives in the 
Kurdistan Region? It provides an oppor-
tunity, a possibility to move away from the 
status of stagnation and raise to the chal-
lenge of finally reforming the system of 
nursing and midwifery and establishing 
them as legitimate professions with the 
vital role to play in the improvement of the 
health care system in the region. 
It can not be denied that over the last dec-
ade there has been some progress despite 
the country facing political, economic and 
social difficulties. We have seen that nurses 
and midwives have resilience and                                 

determination to cope with challenging 
times and that there are many who look to 
the future and work hard to improve the 
current situation.  
However, more is needed. Nursing and 
midwifery services in the Kurdistan Region 
have been based on routine functioning for 
years and attempts for change have been 
largely unsuccessful. Why? There is a myri-
ad of reasons ranging from the legislative 
and regulatory vacuum and outdated gov-
ernance structure, lack of leadership and 
unity within the professions themselves, to 
the difficulties with organizational effec-
tiveness and professional competence of 
individual nurses and midwives. 
The Year of the Nurse and Midwife pro-
vides us with the perfect opportunity to 
thoroughly and formally assess where we 
are now and seriously consider where we 
want to be and how to get there. We 
should not forget that we are not alone. 
There is a global community of nurses and 
midwives whose experience and support is 
invaluable for our own development. All 
we have to do is look, listen, learn, create, 
and apply within our own context, frame 
our efforts into a powerful message, find 
our voice, and ways for that voice to be 
heard. 
Isn’t it an effort worth joining? 

Erbil Journal of Nursing & Midwifery 

“Nurses Are The “Bridge” Of Healthcare 
In January of 2019, the World Health      
Organization (WHO) had a meeting where 
the director– general of the W.H.O., Dr. 
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, made the 
official proposal to declare 2020 the year 
of the nurse and the midwife.    

Editorial 

mailto:evasaid1@gmail.com