“We have a voice and the world is listening, it’s time to amplify the sound!”

In this blog, early-career nurse, Zipporah, shares her experience of taking part in the Global COVID-19 Summit.  

It was 16th September 2021 when I received the invitation from the President of the United States, Joe Biden to speak at the Global COVID-19 Summit. At first, I thought someone was playing a trick on me because I couldn’t believe that this was actually true. What I was feeling was overwhelming excitement mixed with a whole lot of anxiety. It did not make sense to me why they would extend the invitation to me. What an incredible honor! 

Taking part in this event gave me the platform to speak to the world leaders about the plight of health care workers and what they must do to address the most pressing issues.

During my presentation, I called on world leaders to:

1. Support the workforce by ensuring on-time and proper remunerations, provision of adequate PPEs, and recruitment of more healthcare workers to curb the shortage as well as support institutions of training and research.
2. Involve the healthcare workers in all levels of leadership. With the unique perspectives that we bring it is vital that we are involved in the decision and policy-making process. 

To end this pandemic and build back better, we need to work together!

I call on world leaders today and every day to deliberately commit to supporting the healthcare workforce because they are the ones on the ground on the frontlines fighting the pandemic.

I call upon every health care worker to hold to account every leader for the promises made and to work together to build a better future for healthcare.

To my global early-career nurse and midwife colleagues, there is no such thing as a small impact. Be bold in lobbying for a better tomorrow. We have a voice and the world is listening, it’s time to amplify the sound!

Watch Zipporah deliver her statement at the Global COVID-19 Summit here.