FOR ATTENTION:	News Editors
SUBJECT:	2018 International Nurse Day – Nurses also have a right to health
	7 May 2018

The global nursing community would be celebrating the birthday of the nursing pioneer, Florence Nightingale on 12 May as part of International Nurse day under a universal theme of ”Right to Health” for the 2018 commemoration.The global nursing community would be celebrating the birthday of the nursing pioneer, Florence Nightingale on 12 May as part of International Nurse day under a universal theme of ”Right to Health” for the 2018 commemoration.

 

The South African Nursing Council, as the voice of the nursing profession is in full support of this celebration and has added its own spin on the day with the theme “Nurses also have a right to health”. The focus will be on stress and its related condition, hypertension. This is in support of the international theme while underscoring the fact that nurses’ right to health is sometimes forgotten.

 

The SANC is aware of the challenges faced by nurses in their line of duty, often at the cost of themselves and their own health. Nursing is a noble profession which requires the highest degree of professionalism, dedication and care. The health system will never function without nursing as its backbone. But the stress that nurses work under daily cannot be under-estimated.

 

”We acknowledge the efforts from nurses in the healthcare environment. However, it has been noted that nurses tend to forget they also have a right to health. That is the reason we have decided to emphasize the importance of nurses’ health in this year’s International Nurses Day by putting more focus on stress and hypertension” says Ms Sizeni Mchunu, SANC Registrar & CEO.

 

We wish the nurses in South Africa a memorable International Nurse Day. Let us keep alive the words by the late Florence Nightingale: “For the sick it is important to have the best”.

ENDS

Issued by:

Mrs. Adri van Eeden
Senior Manager: Marketing and Communications
South African Nursing Council 
E-mail:    avaneeden@sanc.co.za
Website: www.sanc.co.za 
Tel:          012 426-9542

For more information or to arrange for an interview with the Spokesperson, please contact Mrs. Adri van Eeden on  Tel (012) 426-9542 or email: avaneeden@sanc.co.za 

Official Spokesperson and person to be quoted:

Ms S Mchunu
Registrar and CEO: SA Nursing Council