The European Forum of National Nursing and Midwifery Associations (EFNNMA) is the voice of nursing and midwifery within WHO European Region.Working in partnership and strategically with WHO and other key stakeholders we aim to influence health policy, improve the quality of health services and the health of people across the 53 Member States of the Region. We are passionate advocates of the central and unique contribution that Nurses and Midwives make to individual and population health and well-being across Europe and are committed to ensuring both professions are supported to deliver excellence in their practice. As the nature of care changes we believe that strengthening and developing the nursing and midwifery workforce through the provision of lifelong learning and research delivers excellence in public health and people-centered healthcare.
20th EFNNMA Annual meeting, Berlin, Germany, March 2-3, 2017, Meeting Report
On March 2-3, 2017 in Berlin, Germany, EFNNMA organized its 20th Annual meeting. During the Business meeting the Chair and Steering Committee members reported on the EFNNMA work in 2016, implementation of the EFNNMA-WHO Joint action plan and the budget.
EFNNMA activities covered all parts of the joint action plan with major attention given to the collection of baseline data on nursing and midwifery education from 53 member states. This work has been done in connection with the Monitoring process of implementation of the Strategic Directions on Strengthening Nursing and Midwifery Towards Health 2020 Goals. With all member states engaged into implementation of this document approved by the WHO Regional Committee 66, the monitoring process is needed to stimulate and measure the progress. The policy area on transforming the education is key in expanding the nursing and midwifery roles in the region and achieving sustainability in provision of Health Systems with Human resources. The study as it has been reported on March 3 by WHO consultant continues in order to collect more data and reach the all the countries of the region but the facts already shows a high diversity of the region and a huge gap in training and education opportunities for nurses and midwifes in member states.
Further on during the Business meeting EFNNMA held elections of the Steering Committee members, and the current SC included: Ms Valentina Sarkisova, Chair, Russian Nurses Association; Ms Mervi Jokinen, Vice-chair, Royal College of Midwives; Dr Karen Bjøro, Norwegian Nurses Organization; Ms Vibeke Westh, Danish Nurses Organization; Mr Rui Filipe Lopes Gonçalves, Secretariat, the Ordem dos Enfermeiros, Ms Bermet Yusupova, Kyrgyz National Nursing Association.
EFNNMA Business session continued with the discussion of revised Operational Principles and the Election procedure. Both revised documents have been approved with a task to SC to develop the EFNNMA membership criteria. Another task would be to expand membership and develop closer contacts with NNAs and NMAs from all the member states.
Participants and the SC warmly thanked Mr. Franz Wagner, DBfK CEO, the EFNNMA Treasurer and SC member who stepped down but made a tremendous contribution to the EFNNMA work and the organization of EFNNMA and WHO events in Berlin.
On March 3, 2017 EFNNMA and WHO, WHO Collaborating centers convened a joint conference as part of the consultation process to reflect the recommendations of the UN High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth and the European Framework for action on sustainable workforce which is to be endorsed by the RC 67 in September 2017 in Budapest, Hungary.
The goals and the outcomes of the work of UN High-Level Commission were reported by Ms Annette Widmann-Mauz MP, Parliamentary State Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Federal Republic of Germany. She declared that the Commission developed ten recommendations of which the first two are of the greatest importance, notably recommendation one – Job creation and recommendation two – Gender and women rights. The Commission report suggested to make a paradigm shift from looking at Health sector as an area of costs towards understanding that this is a driving force of state economy which can only help countries to achieve SDGs and stable economic development, provide the population and especially women with jobs and create opportunities for universal health coverage.
Dr Hans Kluge, Director, Division of Health Systems and Public Health, WHO Europe provided a detailed report on WHO actions towards implementation of the Commission recommendations and highlighted the unprecedented global focus on human resources for health (HRH), including nursing and midwifery, which present a huge opportunity. The Regional context is one of good news on health outcomes in the 53 Member States, with improvements everywhere in health and life expectancy. The economic climate is toughening, however, and health systems expect their workforce to do more with less. Turning to building a sustainable nursing and midwifery workforce, Dr Kluge said the framework for action reinforces and integrates with the European strategic directions for strengthening nursing and midwifery towards Health 2020 goals (2015), which remain a key policy document. WHO relies on continued co-operation and collaboration with EFNNMA, which provides members of the expert group working on the framework and toolkit, alongside with representatives from WHO collaborating centers for nursing and midwifery.
Speakers of the meeting continued the discussion and reflected multiply aspects of the current situation in nursing and midwifery practice and education and the actions needed to allow professional use their full potential and make a larger input into health of populations. Special focus and attention has been given to evidence-based nursing and midwifery practice, guidelines on good practice, gaps existing in current health services and projects that allow overcoming those gaps.
Based on the meeting discussions the EFNNMA Steering Committee will develop a Position statement and inform the WHO RC 67 Standing Committee of its vision and recommendations.
Meeting materials
Report from the 20th EFNNMA General Assembly
Report from the Joint Conference of WHO Euro and EFNNMA
Conference presentations
Conference photoalbum