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The Minister of Social Af[airs Ministry of Social Affairs Gonsiori Str. 29 0104 Taiiinn Estonia 28 March 2022 Your Exceiiency, Re: Nurses at the World Health Organization’s 75 World Health Assembly, 22 - 28 May 2022, Geneva, Switzerland 1 am writing on behalf of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) and our national nurses’ association (NNA) members to encourage you to include a nurse in your country’s delegation to the 75111 session of the World Health Assembly (WHA). As a federation of NNAs representing the over 27 million nurses in over 130 countries we are committed to ensuring quality of care and sound health poiicies globally and view the discussions and decisions of the WHA as very significant to nurses. Nurses are an important partner in setting and enacting health policy and, over the years, we have seen the benefits of nursing input in the deliberations of the WHA. Having nurses’ perspective in the current debate and policy setting in national, regional and international forums wiIl enhance the range of robust and practical solutions required to address giobal health challenges. The 75th WHA agenda contains several items where involvement of the nursing profession in the discussion is critical. There will be highly important discussions on human resources for health and, making up the majority of the health workforce, nurses must be central to these discussions and decisions. Other items of importance include NCDs, mental health, tuberculosis, immunization, infection prevention and control, public health emergency preparedness and response, and maternal, infant and young child nutrition. Nurses were and continue to be at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic response. The lack of protection and support for nurses in every country has allowed the pandemic to have a signiflcant direct and indirect impact on nurses and on the nursing profession. The pre pandemic shortage of nurses has been exacerbated and undermines country-level progress towards rebuilding after the pandemic, could prevent the attainment of UHC in some countries, and compromises the overail giobal response future health emergencies. Including a nurse in your delegation is critical to ensure nurses are valued decision-makers and that their unique expertise is harnessed to strengthen, and in some cases rebuild, health systems to deliver health for ali. We urge you to show your support for the nurses of your country by ensuring their voice is heard at the WHA. We iook forward to meeting you and a nurse delegate from your country. Yours Sotsiaalmjfljsteer,u SAABUNUD Hovard Catton 202’- a. Chief Executive Officer c.c.: Presidents/Executive Directors/General Secretaries of ICN NNAs member ICN • CIE • CII 3, piace Jean-Marteau, 1201 Geneva Switzerland Tel.: +41 22 908 01 00 - - Fax: +41 22 908 01 01 e-mail: icn(icn.ch web: www.icn.ch - -