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Celebrating our nursing heroes
2020 – International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has designated 2020 as the “International Year of
the Nurse and the Midwife,” in honour of the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s
birth. Florence Nightingale, famously known as the “Lady with the Lamp”, was a nurse
and social reformer who was in charge of nursing wounded British and allied soldiers in
Turkey during the Crimean War. Given the role that nurses have had to play in fighting the
coronavirus, 2020 couldn’t be a more fitting year to commemorate their work.
Sister Nomusa Mkhwanazi
As the biggest segment of the global health workforce,
nurses have not only been providing direct patient
care during the COVID-19 pandemic, but have been
involved in various other areas such as advising
governments, leading research, coordinating public
health teams and helping formulate humanitarian
responses to COVID-19.
Nurses’ wide-ranging expertise, including infection
prevention and control, critical care, palliative care
and public health, is essential to the maintenance
of national and global health systems and the
preservation of lives. As the healthcare professionals
that are closest to patients, they are often exposed to
danger and moral dilemmas, and we salute them for
the critical role they have played and continue to play
during the pandemic.
More especially, we wish to pay tribute to our own
MUT Clinic headed by Sister Nomusa Mkhwanazi,
who took it upon herself to lead a discourse on the
coronavirus at MUT, breaking all barriers to ensure
that staff and students became aware of COVID-19.
The Clinic Team has been at the forefront in training
staff and students on COVID-19.
“...we salute them for the
critical role they have played
and continue to play during
the pandemic.”