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.
WHO consultation meeting with the expert group on nursing and midwifery
EFNNMA Vice Chair Mervi Jokinen attended a WHO consultation meeting with the expert group on nursing and midwifery on behalf of the EFNNMA Steering Committee in Salzburg, 1st December 2017. As the overall aim of the meeting was to discuss and agree the outline of the next joint Stakeholder meeting on Nursing and Midwifery, the participants consisted of representatives from the 4 stakeholder groups: WHO Europe, CNOs, WHO Collaborating Centres in Europe and EFNNMA. This meeting was important for EFNNMA, as it would mean combining our Annual meeting 2018 and a platform for a joint meeting.
Firstly, there was an opportunity to hear an update by Dr Galina Perfilieva and James Buchan from the WHO Regional Office for Europe, on the regional work on health workforce sustainability and specifically the toolkit that is being developed in support of the European framework for action on sustainable health workforce. An online compendium of case studies will be collated and it will give an opportunity for EFNNMA members to contribute. This was followed by the other stakeholder representatives updating on their current activities and projects.
The rest of the meeting was focussed on the proposed WHO Regional meeting on Nursing and Midwifery. Good progress was made and outline of the programme was agreed upon. We can now look forward to a meeting in Vienna, Austria with provisional dates 13-14th November 2018; all current details will be confirmed by communication from the EFNNMA Chair Velentina Sarkisova in near future.
Other WHO meetings that are taking place in 2018 are:
- 16-18 April 2018, High-level Regional meeting: Health Systems Respond to NCD, Sitges, Spain
- 13-14 June 2018, High-level meeting: Health Systems for prosperity and solidarity “10th anniversary of the Tallinn Charter”, Tallinn, Estonia
- 25-26 October 2018, Global Conference dedicated to the 40th anniversary of Almaty Declaration on PHC, Almaty, Kazakhstan
- 16-19 May 2018, Global WHO CNOs meeting, Geneva, Switzerland
- 17-20 July 2018, 12th Biennial Conference and Meetings of the Global Network of WHO CC for nursing and midwifery, Cairns, Australia