With the fast-spreading COVID-19 pandemic, the world started giving greater attention to health professionals who work at the frontline of the response. The crisis arrives at a time where more qualified health professionals are desperately needed: according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 9 million more nurses and midwives are needed globally if we want to achieve universal health coverage by 2030. It is to highlight that need, that WHO designated 2020 as the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife.

Nursery and midwifery challenges and the leadership capacity of these disciplines must be strengthened at a national, regional & international level. This was the call from participants at the inaugural Pacific Heads of Nursing & Midwifery Meeting (PHoNM) held from the 11-14th of February in Nadi.

Thirteen Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) attended the PHoNM alongside nursing stakeholders and regional and international partners.

The Heads of Nursing from Pacific Island Countries and Territories will convene in Nadi, Fiji from the 11th- 13th of February 2020 for the inaugural Pacific Heads of Nurses (PHoN) Meeting. This is the first time such a meeting has taken place, reflecting the increasing recognition of the essential role nurses play in Pacific health services. 

For the third consecutive year, young people from different Pacific island states and territories have the opportunity to spread prevention and control messages for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) using different media, thanks to the Wake Up! Project, launched in 2017, with financial support from the Pacific Fund (France) and the Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), and implemented by the Pacific Community (SPC).

The Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) are most vulnerable to health security risks brought by emerging and re-emerging infectious disease epidemics such as dengue fever or measles.

Strengthening public health laboratory services is crucial to ensure timely, accurate and reliable diagnosis of such diseases.

I recently attended a meeting of an international expert group convened by WHO in Geneva to assess progress being made by the global community in taking actions to reduce the impact of NCDs following high level meetings sponsored by the UN General Assembly in 2014 and 2011.  These discussions are taking place in anticipation of the third high-level meeting at UNGA in 2018.

The impetus is accelerated by the planned meeting to be held in Montevideo, Uruguay on enhancing policy coherence to prevent and control NCDs to be hosted by the President of Uruguay.