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.
69th Session of WHO Regional Committee for Europe, EFNNMA statements on behalf of nurses and midwives of the Region
The RC 69 Agenda apart from several important technical issues included nomination of the Regional director for the coming 5 years. Earlier this year EFNNMA joined ICN in a campaign to raise the awareness of the candidates that nursing and midwifery workforce contribution to health services delivery, achieving the UHS and Better Health for All require strong leadership and thus the post of a Chief nursing officer would help to make greater impact on member state actions towards these goals.
Four of five candidates gave positive answers and committed themselves to establishing the post. The answers can be seen here
Elections of the new Regional director took place on September 17, 2019 during the RC private session and EFNNMA SC leaders were among the first to personally congratulate Dr Hans Kluge with his successful nomination!
Dr. Kluge is a well-known leader and head of WHO Department on Health systems and Public Health who was most responsive during the last decade on supporting nursing and midwifery. No single event of nurses and midwives of the Region took place without his personal presence and highest engagement. Together we discussed the joint plans and the possibilities to move the nursing and midwifery agenda forward, developed the Joint action plan for WHO EURO and EFNNMA and memorandum of Understanding. EFNNMA wishes Dr Kluge a success in his new position and is ready for further effective collaboration.
During the RC session EFNNMA SC members address several topics of WHO RC Technical Agenda including:
- Agenda item 5 (a) - Lessons learned from the implementation of Health 2020, the European policy framework for health and well-being – The Role of and Contribution of leadership in health policy and practice – Read the Statement, and
- Agenda item 5 (g) - Accelerating primary health care strengthening in the WHO European Region – Read the Statement.
Both Statements were developed in collaboration between ICN and EFNNMA. This strategy was quite successful as selecting the NGOs statements WHO give the priority to those signed by several partners. We were able to reminding member states about the year 2020 and many got to know about the Year of a Nurse and a Midwife for the first time. It was important to raise awareness on nursing and midwifery roles in health care during both plenary sessions of RC 69 and its technical briefing on vaccination hesitancy. Following the briefing SC members met with Dr Masoud Dara, Head of Communicable Diseases Departments and consequently had a working meeting with Department experts to discuss 2020 plans and EFNNMA involvement in the WHO Immunization week. Nurses and Midwives are highly recognized professionals playing the leading role in immunization campaigns and the joint actions will be focused on supporting and strengthening this role.
EFNNMA SC members, ICN and WHO EURO met during the 69th session of Regional Committee to discuss plans for 2020, including how the themes of the year can be reflected and disseminated in the Region and what activities will support involvement of WHO EURO and the member-states. Among those already planned activities is the Launch of Nursing Now campaign in Russia where all the nursing leaders from Russian speaking countries will be invited to get a stronger support in their policy dialog and efforts to develop nursing and midwifery professions. The event is planned for March 19-20, 2020 and will be organized in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. Discussion allowed discussing the focus of the campaign and developing ideas on main topics to be touched. Russian speaking EFNNMA members and other NNAs and NMAs will be invited to join the event. The program will have a focus on overcoming barriers to advanced nursing and midwifery practice, leadership and the role of professional associations.
The WHO meeting of CNOs, Collaborating Centers and EFNNMA will take place in autumn of 2020 and the dates will be identified in conjunction with the dates of EU CNO event. The meeting is supposed to take place in Germany during its EU presidency.
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