8Nursing Times May 2021 / Vol 117 Issue 5 www.nursingtimes.net

Nursing on the rise across the world

University of Edinburgh gathered data through surveys and interviews, which brought together a detailed picture of what those involved in the campaign believe it has influenced or changed. As an advocacy campaign, there are several indicators that point to its success, but further research will be needed in three to five years to gauge its long-term impact on health through the development of nursing and policy change.

Partnerships with international organisations such as the WHO, the ICN and others extended the campaign’s influence beyond its network of groups and into the global health-policy sphere such as at the General Assembly of the United Nations, the World Health Assembly and the World Innovation Summit for Health. Initiatives included lobbying G20 leaders to integrate nursing into Covid-19 recovery plans and

future development and nursing. With many of its plans disrupted, the Nursing Now campaign used webinars and social media to provide platforms to discuss difficult issues, share ideas and support each other. Virtual events brought more opportunities to connect people around the world for policy dialogues at regional and international levels. Nursing Now forged alliances and connections with allies, creating a greater sense of global solidarity and a louder drumbeat of the message to invest in nursing to improve healthcare for all.

The combination of the global, national and local action has created a dynamic social movement with enormous reach.

Measuring successThe Nursing Now story is made up of a collection of stories threading together local and national efforts to advocate for nursing. The

Nursing Now has united nurses, health advocates and allies from around the world in the first ever global, social movement to champion the role of nurses. In the three years since its launch, Nursing Now grew to have a presence in 126 countries with over 700 groups around the world.

The campaign used social media and virtual events to connect tens of thousands of nurses, extending its reach to make its case to decision makers globally. Young nurses stepped up to join, as did expe-rienced nurse leaders, and more than 32,000 early career nurses have participated in the Night-ingale Challenge.

The genesis of the campaign was the publication in 2016 of The Triple Impact of Nursing, a report by UK parliamentarians, which argued that strengthening nursing would make a major contribution to improving health, greater gender equity and economic development. Nursing Now was launched in February 2018, with the goal of improving health globally by raising the status and profile of nursing. With support from the Burdett Trust for Nursing, the campaign was run in association with the World Health Organization (WHO)

and the International Council of Nurses (ICN).

Growing the movementNursing Now grew to be an informal but mighty network of nurses and their allies, who shared innovations, research and became united in advocacy efforts to make an evidence-based call to governments to invest in nursing. The first group launch was in Uganda, and was quickly followed by many requests from countries to set up groups; by December 2020, there were 729 regional, national and local groups across 126 countries.

“The groups really have been major players in Nursing Now. They’ve been very involved, with no financial support from us, and yet they’ve done wonderful things around the world. Because of their enthusiasm and energy, they made this movement work,” said Dr Barbara Stilwell, Nursing Now’s global executive director.

The pandemic changed everything. It wasn’t the year that had been planned for the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, but this terrible pandemic demonstrated the value of nurses and the importance of

Ending this month, Nursing Now was a three-year global campaign to improve health by raising the status and profile of nursing. Kathryn Irwin looks at its legacy

Special issue: Nursing NowThe story of the campaign

9Nursing Times May 2021 / Vol 117 Issue 5 www.nursingtimes.net

writing to health ministers to urge them to commit to invest in nursing.

Perhaps the most important achievements have been Nursing Now groups reporting having infl uenced policy and investment in many countries. Their engagement with governments and health leaders has made a difference – at least 35 countries from all parts of the world have invested more in nursing in response to the engagement and activities of groups, and more than 700 employers have set up development programmes for early career nurses and midwives.

Nursing Now advocated for 2020 to be the International

Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, and worked together with the WHO and the ICN on the publication of the fi rst ever State of the World’s Nursing report. These two initiatives added to the momentum, and are due to be followed this year by the publication of an updated version of the WHO’s global strategic directions for nursing and midwifery, which will set the direction for its member states on nursing and midwifery for the next fi ve years.

Nursing Now’s legacy is a strong global network of nurses and their allies, who

will continue to lobby and advocate for commitments from governments that translate into demonstrable investments and policy change for nursing.

Passing the batonNursing Now was conceived as a three-year campaign to challenge perceptions and raise the profi le of nursing, and will formally conclude at the end of May 2021.

Many Nursing Now groups, with their ability to bring together a broad coalition of organisations and allies – nursing and non-

nursing – will continue to operate. The ICN is building links with many of the Nursing Now groups to maintain the momentum, energy and impact of the campaign.

Meanwhile, the Nightingale Challenge is being renamed the Nursing Now Challenge and will continue, with support from the Burdett Trust for Nursing, for another two years and to plan for its future thereafter (see pp10-11).

Nursing Now’s campaign report, which is due to be published later this month, will provide a specifi c set of key actions for nurses, employers, education bodies, governments, the WHO and the ICN (see box, left).

The fi nal message from Nursing Now is that no healthcare system can function without a workforce that is fully understood, invested in and enabled. Nurses are the largest group of all health professionals, have the greatest reach and are among the most trusted – a decision to invest in the future development of nursing could bring improvements in population health, health equity, social inclusion, planetary health, gender equality and economic growth.

For nurses and nursing, the attitude can no longer be ‘business as usual’.

Nursing Now launched in 2018 with events around the globe, including in Malawi (top left), Barcelona (top middle), the United States (top right) and Sweden (far left)

Investing in education,jobs and leadership

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Nursing Now: key recommendationsThe Nursing Now campaign report to be published this month provides a specifi c set of key actions for nurses, employers, education bodies, governments, the World Health Organization (WHO) and International Council of Nurses (ICN). These will include the following: ● Nurses are encouraged to work with each other and their

allies to be confi dent, creative agents of change using data to lobby politicians and policy makers for the investments that are needed to develop the nursing profession

● Employers must provide decent working conditions, education and support for nursing, and create opportunities for nurses to be included in policy formulation and in all senior management groups that plan and manage services 

● Education providers need to develop: their curricula to recognise the full potential of nurses in healthcare, disease prevention and health creation; and transformative leadership skills in future nurses so they can be true agents of change

● Governments and international bodies need to commit to implementing the recommendations of the WHO’s strategic directions for nursing and midwifery, and sign up to and be accountable for implementing a WHO care compact that will protect health workers’ rights and decent work/practice environments

● The WHO and the ICN are encouraged to build on the momentum that has been created through Nursing Now by supporting groups with learning activities and continued advocacy

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