World Health Day 2020: Support Nurses and Midwives
By Alokwem Vianney
When considered as an independent concept, one could conclude that every day ought to be a world health day. As a day shouldn’t pass where an individual’s health and that of those around them shouldn’t be a source of concern. A notion to nurture at the fore of every action; what is the health impact of what I am about to do? Will it affect just me, or the people around me as well? Will it be a long term or short term effect? These are questions to ask at every point. From an environmentalist’s perspective, the source of concern would most likely stem from the effects of pollution on the health of the general public. It is the responsibility of every individual to keep the world healthy.
Be it as it may, World Health Day is a day set aside to mark the establishment of World Health Organization on 7TH April, 1948. The celebration is marked on 7th of April, annually, and a theme is set aside for each year. The day is usually one for observing/discussing key areas in the health sector or acknowledging the efforts of health workers, globally.
This year, the theme is ‘Support nurses and midwives’. A call to action, reflecting on the unquantifiable contribution of nurses during the COVID-19 outbreak. Without nurses and other health workers in action, effective response to the pandemic would have been insignificant — to say the least. With the ongoing global health emergency, they are putting their health and lives on the line, working double time and sometimes 24hrs on the clock, to keep us all safe. Midwives never abandoned their posts in this trying times, to forsake bringing life to the world. Despite all that is going on, our nurses and mid-wives continue to bring life to earth, and to save lives as well.
Their bravery, courage and selfless input in combating the pandemic is one worthy of admiration.
What Can We Do To Support Them In This Period?
Best guess is that you think there aren’t a lot of things you can do to show your support to health care workers this period. Well, this is the situation where little things matter a lot. On a high scale, one can commit to donating personal protective equipment to nurses, offering proper meals to nurses who are hardly ever off a shift nor have the time to cook a good meal. Depending on your capacity, you can do this for one or two nurses around you.
Your support can also be in form of taking care of yourself, limiting the volume of pollution coming from your end, which contributes to public health menace. And in times like this, doing all we can to avoid causing the spread of, or being the precursor of COVID-19 will help make the work easier for nurses. As the number of patients to attend to won’t be overwhelming. Though indirect, it is a lot of support coming from you.
As ever, no matter how you think of it, little acts of appreciation will always go a long way in lifting their spirit. An occasional “Thank you for all the amazing things you have been doing” can make all the difference. Despite the lock-down measures and isolation policies put in place in various regions, they still risk their lives to save lives. And they need all the support there is to give — all the support you can give.
To all the nurses, midwives, doctors, paramedics and all other health workers out there, you are amazing! And we at REES Africa appreciate all the sacrifices you make towards making the world a better place. Continue to spread love and light. :)
