Your Royal Highness Princess Muna Al-Hussein,
Ms Annette Kennedy, President of the International Council of Nurses, and we have the CEO also here, Howard Catton.
Ms Franka Cadee, President of the International Council of Midwives,
Good morning, I’m delighted to be here with you for this very important event, which is for me beyond words to be associated with, actually.
Every two years, WHO, ICM and ICN come together to discuss priorities for advancing nursing and midwifery towards our common goal.
The COVID-19 pandemic has put the global spotlight on midwives and nurses, and the critical role you play.
Now, in this Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, is the opportunity for you to use your voices to strengthen the call for more responsive, resilient health systems as the foundation of universal health coverage.
WHO, ICN and Nursing Now have produced the first State of the World’s Nursing report, and along with ICM and UNFPA, we are now working on the third State of the World’s Midwifery Report.
Each of these reports is a resource providing evidence-based arguments for investing in nursing and midwifery in all countries.
I wish you a fruitful meeting and look forward to reading the resulting Triad Statement that will articulate the priorities of this important group.
Finally, I would like to join Her Royal Highness Princess Muna Al-Hussein, to express how proud I am with all that the nurses and midwifes are doing, risking their lives to save others. So again I say, we are proud of you.
And with that I declare the meeting open.
Thank you so much for joining.