12 May 2016 Geneva, Switzerland - Globally, nurses make up the largest cadre of health care providers. In most parts of the world, a person affected by TB will never see a doctor -- all care is provided by a nurse from diagnosis to treatment completion.
Therefore, nurses play a crucial role in improving case detection, getting people on appropriate treatment, providing patient-centered ongoing care and support and improving treatment outcomes.
International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world every year on the 12th of May, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birthday to mark the contributions nurses make to society. The world continue to strive for recognition of the importance of nurses and acknowledge the dedication they show their patients. This year, the International Council of Nurses is commemorating this important day through the theme Nurses: A Force for Change -- Improving health systems' resilience. To access the campaign material, please see here.
We need to ensure that nurses have access to appropriate capacity building in the prevention, detection and treatment of TB and drug-resistant TB, play a role in developing the protocols and guidelines they will ultimately be putting into practice, and are involved in local and national planning and decision-making for coherent and effective service delivery. Nurses are a powerful force, and together we will end TB.