The Aga Khan University (AKU) School of Nursing & Midwifery and Nursing Services are conducting a ceremony to celebrate the International Day of the Midwife (IDM) and the International Nurses Day (IND) on Saturday (today). Each year, midwives and nurses around the world celebrate the IDM on May 5 and the IND on May 12, Florence Nightingale’s birthday, to raise awareness about their respective roles in the global healthcare. The theme for this year’s IDM ‘The world needs midwives today more than ever’ reaffirms the simple yet evident truth that midwives save lives. Strengthening the role of midwifery and nursing has become essential for the global effort to tackle healthcare challenges, especially maternal, newborn and infant mortality. Meanwhile, the theme for this year’s IND ‘Closing the gap: From Evidence to Action’ reiterates the fact that nurses are constantly faced with challenges in finding ways of delivering best possible care. They have a professional obligation to provide care that is grounded in new knowledge derived through research, which is constantly reviewed and validated.
