Page 25 - QARANC Vol 17 No 2 2019
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                                International Council of Nurses Congress 2019
As a scholar from the Florence Nightingale Foundation Army Emerging Leadership programme I would like to thank the Florence Nightingale Foundation, Chief Nursing Officer (Army), Personnel from the British High Commission Singapore, Centre for Defence Healthcare Engagement, Chain of Command at JHG SE, and all who supported and guided me before, during and after the International Council of Nurses Congress (ICN).
ICN is a federation of more than 130 national nurses’ associations and represents more that 20 million nurses worldwide. Founded in 1899 with Great Britain, the United States and Germany as charter members. Great Britain pulled out of the council in 2013. The congress is held every two years, where nurses host profession practice workshops, poster sessions, luncheons, speaking and plenary sessions. Separated by nurses, its objectives are to advance the socio-economic status of nurses and influence global and domestic health policy. This year’s key speakers included Chief Nursing Officer for World Health Organization (WHO), the Director of WHO (Dr Tedros), co-Chairs for Nursing Now campaign, and the former Prime Minister of the Republic of South Korea.
The congress was held on 27 June – 1 July 2019 in Singapore and the theme of congress was ‘Beyond Healthcare to Health’. The focus was on nurses working to achieve universal access to health by addressing social factors such as education, gender equality and poverty from a global perspective. It was identified that these areas have
Nurses from the different leadership programmes unit at the International Council of Nurses Congress
deficits which need to be addressed. More input into non-communicable diseases prevention and healthy aging within the community was needed to lessen the financial burden on the economies and the healthcare systems. The WHO projected that there will be a shortfall of nine million nurses by 2030 in middle earning countries due to international recruitment and immigration. As a retention measure there is need for better pay, blame free culture, mentoring, better working conditions, and availability of resources. Nurses should work in symbiosis with other health professionals in order to empower and develop practice. Countries need to invest more into health workers and nurture new leaders in nursing.
It was identified that nurses needed to be versed with the disaster nursing competencies especially in developing countries due lack of funding and preparedness in dealing with disasters. The competencies are categorised from level one to three, level one
should be undertaken by all nurses (participate in exercises), level two should be level one competency plus specialist nursing role (participate in planning and exercise) and level three should be completed by all those who are preparing to deploy to disaster zones.
Dr Tedros emphasised that discrimination and abuse should not have a place in society and the health system. He encouraged nurses to exhibit empathy to each other, enable and support others to grow within the profession. He invited a nurse and a midwife to the next WHO Assembly and announced that with effect from next year there will be an WHO award for Nursing and Midwifery.
Throughout the conference it was clear that the negative impact of poor health on economies was great and resulted in unsustainable development globally. Matters discussed during this congress are issues that are pertinent to the UK defence and are identifiable in the global trends publication which informs our future operating environment(s). As an Army nurse, it gave me the appreciation of healthcare inequalities and the difference in practice when we deploy with other nations. The congress gave me an insight into some of the current development of policies and guidelines used globally.
Key upcoming events include: 2020 Year of the Nurses Award; 2020 Nightingale Challenge; 2020 Florence Nightingale 200 year anniversary and the 2021 ICN Congress in Abu Dhabi.
The Gazette QARANC Association 23
     Professor Westwood and scholars from the FNF UK
Sergeant Colodia Muzvidziwa





















































































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