International Nurses Day 2020: “Nursing the World to Health”
Every year, on the 12th of May, International Nurses Day (IND) is observed around the world. It marks the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth and the contribution that nurses make to society.
In the United Kingdom each year a service is held in Westminster Abbey in London. A lamp, symbolic of Florence Nightingale’s work in Constantinople during the Crimean War of 1854, is passed from one nurse to another signifying the transfer of knowledge.
IND has been observed since 1965. In 2020, as we come to terms with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and begin to recognise the challenges the world faces in relation to good health, let us truly celebrate nurses and front-line staff risking it all to save others.
1 "International Nurses Day". International Council of Nurses. Archived from the original on 19 May 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2013. [Accessed: 08 May 2020].
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