The report said that there
are just under 28 million nurses on the planet. In the five years leading up to
2018, the number grew by 4.7 million.
As coronavirus (Covid-19) captures global headlines, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned Tuesday that the world needs nearly six million nurses.
The UN's health agency
along with partners Nursing Now and the International Council of Nurses (ICN)
underscored in a report the crucial role played by nurses, who make up more
than half of all health workers worldwide.
"Nurses are the
backbone of any health system," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said
in a statement.
"Today, many nurses
find themselves on the frontline in the battle against Covid-19," he
noted, adding that it was vital they "get the support they need to keep
the world healthy."
The report said that there
are just under 28 million nurses on the planet. In the five years leading up to
2018, the number grew by 4.7 million.
"But this still leaves
a global shortfall of 5.9 million," the WHO said, pointing out that the
greatest gaps were in poorer countries in Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle
East and parts of South America.
The report urged countries
to identify gaps in their nursing workforce and invest in nursing education,
jobs and leadership.
ICN chief executive Howard
Catton told a virtual briefing that infection rates, medication errors and
mortality rates "are all higher where there are too few nurses".
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