KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaica will be piloting a resolution on strengthening nursing and midwifery at the 74th World Health Assembly (WHA), which is taking place in Geneva, Switzerland, from May 24 to June 1.      

The resolution is expected to lead to the adoption of the Global Strategic Directions for Nursing and Midwifery 2021-2025.           

This was disclosed by State Minister in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn, at a recent virtual event to launch the State of the World’s Midwifery 2021 Report (SoWMy 2021).              

 “This will be the first resolution focused on nursing and midwifery in 10 years.  We hope it will help to focus policy action and investments in the education, employment, leadership and work environments of nurses and midwives, optimising their contributions to the health of populations around the world,” the state minister said.                                     

Cuthbert-Flynn pointed out that the resolution comes against the background of the WHA’s continued focus on nurses and midwives through 2021, by giving it the designation of ‘International Year of Health and Care Workers (YHCW)’, under the theme ‘Protect. Invest. Together’.                                                                          

It is for this reason, Cuthbert-Flynn said, that the Government of Jamaica is “pleased that the WHA deemed it appropriate to continue the focus on nurses and midwives”.                                                          

“It also gives renewed impetus to the work started in 2020 during the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife, which was championed by Jamaica in 2019, as a member of the executive board,” she noted.

She further pointed out that this is an issue which is of critical importance to Jamaica’s national development objectives, and which is accorded priority at the highest political level, hence the piloting of the resolution.                                             

Cuthbert-Flynn pointed out that nurses and midwives specifically make up more than half of the healthcare workforce worldwide, and therefore are the backbone of health systems as well as critical contributors to achieving national healthcare goals and, by extension, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), in particular SDG 3.

The SDG 3 aims to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.