The International Council of Nurses (ICN) annually celebrates Nurses' Day on 12 May, which is the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birthday, and marks the contribution of nurses to society. This year's theme is 'Nurses a Voice to Lead: Health is a human right'. The right to the highest attainable standard of health is recognised in the constitution of many countries and numerous binding international human rights treaties.
But what does, the right to health, mean to different individuals, to different communities, to different groups in a population? Universal Health Coverage (UHC) necessitates placing the health and wellbeing of all individuals and all communities at the centre of the health system and of the economic development of the country (ICN, 2018). As policy makers grapple with this problem, nurses have an indispensable role to play in answering this question. Nurses are believed to have a central role to play towards ensuring health is achieved by all.
Nurses act as dual agents, or may be said to have a dual role, in health care systems vis-a-vis honouring the contention/statement 'health as a human right'. Nurses are known to be the stimulus, the hub and often even the catalyst regarding: (1) enabling the protection of the health as a human right of each and every individual they meet, and (2) breaking the silence in the face of human rights abuses committed against individuals and groups which jeopardize or compromise the health of an individual, community or population.
In view of this, the Department of Nursing, at Faculty of Health Sciences within the University of Malta, will commemorate International Nurses’ Day 2018, by drafting a parliamentary motion regarding the role of the nurse in Malta in addressing health as a human right. The motion will be presented by Dr Roberta Sammut, Head of Department of Nursing, Dean Faculty of Health Sciences. This will be discussed during a debate amongst a number of student and qualified nurses and Members of Parliament. The debate will be take place at the Chamber of the Parliament of Malta in Valletta on 10 May at 10:00. The Hon. Mario Galea, a qualified nurse, will lead the debate which will be chaired by the Honourable Speaker, Dr A. Farrugia.
The speakers in the debate include Dr Anthony Scerri, Mr Kevin Gafa’, Ms Vanessa Mifsud, Ms Antoinette Attard, Ms Lucyanne Ragab, Ms Marika Podda Connor, Ms Amy Zahra Camilleri and Ms Maria Navarro.