“Nurses are the world’s life-savers. They are risking their own health and too often sacrificing
time with their family to help those suffering from COVID-19,” said Robert Mardini, the
director-general of the International Committee of the Red Cross. “It’s heartening to see
many communities praise and thank nurses.”
International Nurse Day is observed globally on 12 May every year. This day is observed to commemorate the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale.
She was also known as Lady with the Lamp. She was the founder of modern nursing and was a British social reformer and statistician.
International Council of Nurses has published its theme for the year 2020 around the COVID-19 pandemic on its official website icn.ch “Nursing the World to Health”.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has designated the year 2020 as the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife.
Who was Florence Nightingale?
Florence Nightingale was put in charge of nursing British and allied soldiers in Turkey during the Crimean War. She is renowned for setting up the Nightingale School of Nursing, at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London (opened 1860) in order to formalize nursing education.
She was the first woman awarded the Order of Merit (1907).
