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“NIGH has laid the important groundwork, making excellent progress" |
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The Nightingale Declaration Campaign continues working — with the 2010
International Year of the Nurse being launched into the world — as the
United Nations prepares a Special Session to address goals and
commitments for achieving a healthy global community.
The priority focus for NIGH, in 2009, has been the preparatory meetings at the United Nations in Geneva and New York and discussions with key diplomats concerning health as a priority for action. Nurses on our NIGH Board — including those from India, Jamaica and the United States — also took supportive action within their national and international nursing networks. As well, NIGH colleagues from several nations worked to bring our proposed UN Resolution to their own nation's UN Ambassadors.
Our Jordanian friend and colleague, Dr. Rowaida Al-Ma'aitah reported that HRH Princess Muna Al Hussain has agreed to give her official support to this effort. Strong support has come from colleagues of many nations, including Belgium, Brazil, Botswana, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Greece, Hungary, Portugal, South Korea, Swaziland, Switzerland, the UK and USA.
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UN General Assembly 2009 in session
UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras
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An officer of the US State Department commended NIGH at the US/UN Mission in New York in mid-December, saying: “NIGH has laid the important groundwork, making excellent progress toward your goal for the United Nations to acknowledge nursing's role in the achievement of the UN MDGs during the International Year of the Nurse. 2010 will be an excellent year for further progress in this effort.”
Meanwhile, the United Nations, coping with the environmental health of the planet with the UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen and nearly 200 other items of concern, missions and reports to consider, had a very crowed agenda.
We were, nonetheless, welcomed as collaborators by the governments and NGOs at the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in Geneva in July 2009 , where human health was the principle focus, for the first time in decades, on the ECOSOC agenda. In 2010, that focus will move through ECOSOC and into the UN General Assembly in Special Session beginning in early September — in a milestone meeting that requires your help to mobilize global public consciousness in support of commitment for action yet to be implemented with an effective collaborative plan.
Also in 2009, the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the UN (CoNGO) began focusing on global health as the UN's first priority. Meetings in Geneva (July) and New York (October) included many of the principle NGOs in global health who welcomed and endorsed the concept of 2010 IYNurse being celebrated by mobilizing public opinion globally to achieve a healthy world. Their declared endorsement was presented to the 2009 UN Economic and Social Council and to the 2009 General Assembly.
Several UN officers and many diplomats of UN Member State governments — without formally endorsing IYNurse 2010 a "UN Year" — have, nevertheless, also encouraged potential collaboration with the worldwide nursing community during local, national and global celebrations of the International Year of the Nurse -- Florence Nightingale Centennial. They have welcomed our NIGH commitment to the mobilization of public opinion locally and globally, in support of the UN's Millennium Development Goals, particularly those pertaining to Child and Maternal Health and communicable diseases, Goals # 4, 5 and 6.
It is the building of political and public will — from grassroots to global that — these same governments are now inviting our help — as the worldwide nursing community — to create informed awareness and effective advocacy in support of these Goals being achieved in this decade.
As nurses, it remains for us now — being already trusted and committed on a daily basis in addressing the health needs of our communities — to collaborate with the UN and with each other. We can become a global force of “Nightingale communicators” to persuade, inform and involve everyone that health must be the first priority for society as a whole, involving everyone in accepting responsibility for the health of people everywhere.
Seven Initial Collaborating Nations Are Making Significant Progress Connecting Global Health and Foreign Policy
Decisions and agreements to be adopted by 192 Member States of the UN take considerable time to build consensus. As a result of NIGH's discussion with the South African Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, we followed the adoption of a first-ever UN Resolution connecting “Global Health and Foreign Policy.” It was approved by the UN General Assembly on December 10, 2009, after three years of effort, starting in 2006 with a group of seven initial sponsoring nations, Brazil, France, Indonesia, Norway, Senegal, South Africa and Thailand.
This UN Resolution — A/RES/64/108 — focuses on strengthening the health care delivery sector. It establishes key precedents for the entire UN family, agencies and all 192 UN Member States to be actively considering the inclusion of health issues in the formulation of their foreign policy. The adopted Resolution also agreed that the 65th Session of the UN General Assembly, in September 2010 will examine ways in which foreign and health policy coordination and coherence are to be strengthened at local, regional and international levels. It commits the 2010 General Assembly to make concrete recommendations, with a specific focus on making national foreign policy more effective and more supportive of global public health.
These foreseen actions for discussion and debate at the General Assembly Special Session in September 2010 will require universal public support to be mobilized if they are to be adopted and implemented by governments and all UN agencies.
See:
http://www.globalhealtheurope.org/news/237-un-debate-global-health-and-foreign-policy
http://www.southafrica-newyork.net/pmun/view_speech.php?speech=3224080
http://www.un.org/ga/64/resolutions.shtml (Scroll down to A/RES/64/108 on December 10, 2009)
Further Highlights
• NIGH's work at the UN in New York was greatly strengthened by students and graduate students of the the Adelphi University School of Nursing, led by the professor, Dr. Holly Shaw, in visiting key diplomats at the United Nations.
• As well, the Editors of Nursing Spectrum, published by Healthcare Group of Gannett Publishers [USA Today] worked with NIGH and Dr. Shaw to have their beautiful commemorative Florence Nightingale Special Issue hand-delivered to members of the international diplomatic community.
• With the British UN Mission, our meetings assisted their initiative in bringing clearer language acknowledging nurses and our work to achieve and advocate for UN MDGs during 2010 — to the next World Health Assembly and the 63rd World Health Report, 2010.
• From discussions with officers of the Commonwealth Secretariat and members of the Commonwealth Foundation, we have been assured that many efforts are underway for Commonwealth nations to pro-actively address UN MDGS # 4 and # 5. These discussions will continue in 2010 and be reported on the NIGH website.
• As well, NIGH utilized both email and personally-addressed letters to each of the 192 UN Ambassadors resident in New York, encouraging and offering to support their initiatives in this effort to make global health the UN's first priority.
• NIGH also urged those who have already signed the Nightingale Declaration for a Healthy World, some 20,702 from 110 nations so far, to join with us in urging their particular UN Ambassador to support these initiatives now and throughout 2010.
• A media backgrounder and a Press Release were provided to all 200 media correspondents and media agency representatives accredited to the United Nations in New York, describing the NIGH campaign. See: http://www.nightingaledeclaration.net/news/nigh-unga-resolution-nurses/
• During 2009, NIGH was granted UN/DPI Status and, as such, will be welcome to attend relevant UN meetings and discussions and to collaborate with DPI in disseminating news about related events and activities.
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