International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world every 12 May, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth. The International Council of Nurses (ICN) commemorates this important day each year by choosing a theme and producing an IND report and resources. ICN has announced the theme for International Nurses Day (IND) 2026: “Our Nurses. Our Future.” Empowered Nurses Save Lives.
According to the ICN, the International Nurses Day focus sends a clear message that to maximize the full life-saving impact of the nursing workforce, the council will empower nurses with safe, fair work environments and full nursing practice, influence, and leadership. The theme comes at a critical time, as global health faces unprecedented challenges from workforce shortages, rising health care demands, and increasing effects of conflict and climate change.
From historical times to the present day, nurses have been at the forefront of providing nursing and healthcare services to help relieve the illnesses of patients and ensure their mental and emotional well-being. In public healthcare, nurses provide care for sick persons, prevent illnesses, promote better health among healthy individuals, and provide care in rehabilitation processes. Therefore, nurses are key personnel of the Ministry of Health who play a vital role in achieving Universal Health Coverage that is accessible to all people.
According to statistics from the World Health Organization, the nursing and midwifery workforce accounts for nearly 50 per cent of all human resources in the health sector. Therefore, highlighting their extremely important role is essential in order to provide quality healthcare services to the public. Despite serving at the grassroots level, nurses play a key role in providing healthcare services to the people, joining hands with surgeons.
To become an outstanding and competent nurse capable of providing comprehensive and adequate healthcare services for patients, it is necessary to possess two essential qualities: personal attributes and professional skills. Nurses must strive to fully develop the qualities that a good nurse should possess, such as compassion and kindness, patience, adaptability and flexibility, effective communication skills, and the ability to skillfully manage and resolve patients’ stress and emotional difficulties.
In Myanmar, two universities of nursing have been established and opened in Yangon and Mandalay to produce nursing graduates. In addition, more than 20 nursing training schools nationwide will be upgraded to institutes in order to produce nurses with higher educational qualifications and in greater numbers. These efforts will accelerate the improvement of the health sector by enabling hospitals and clinics throughout the country to provide healthcare services for the public effectively.
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