On this year’s International Nurses Day, we are called upon to focus on the enormous potential that strategic investments in nursing can have in generating economic and social progress around the world. The same holds true for nurse migration, which has proven to be an engine of economic advancement for global nurses and their families. By supporting it, we can empower nurses around the world to take charge of their lives and careers and to advance the conditions (and opportunities) in their communities and countries—especially for women and girls, for whom career migration has been critical to advancing gender equality.
To that end, International Nurses Day is also a time to reflect on the watchword “choice.” Let us not forget that individuals, both women and men, have a fundamental human right to freely choose where they want to live and work around the world. At CGFNS International we are determined to advocate for health professionals and ensure that they can safely and effectively migrate—if it is their choice to do so.
The recent CGFNS Economics of Nurse Migration Report cites three main reasons nurses migrate to the United States. One third said they are coming to follow their families and other loved ones. Another third cited economics—to lift their families out of poverty. And the remaining third say they have migrated for professional and career development and advancement.
Nurse migration, if done ethically and transparently, offers nurses opportunities to improve their own lives, their careers, their families’ lives, and their communities—wherever they decide to live and work, as well as if and when they decide to return to their home country.
Accordingly, we need to ease mobility for health workers to practice where they want to and where they are needed, streamline the assessment and recognition of practice competency, and empower health workers to achieve “work-readiness” regardless of where they choose to apply their knowledge and skills.
On International Nurses Day 2024, we at CGFNS fully commit ourselves to advancing these important objectives and, with that, helping to expand the capacity of nurses everywhere to make the world a better and healthier place for all.
