World Health Worker Week – April  5

The COVID-19 pandemic and other global emergencies show us once again the heroic efforts health workers on the front lines make every day to keep their communities—and the world—safe and healthy.  The WHO and the Global Health Workforce Network is pleased to partner with civil society partners—the Frontline Health Workers Coalition and its members—to honor health workers during World Health Worker Week: April 5-11, 2020. The Eighth Annual World Health Worker Week is yet another opportunity to mobilize communities, partners, and policymakers to increase support of health workers worldwide.

The 2020 theme is Leaders on the Front Line. This theme highlights the need to provide greater leadership opportunities for frontline health workers—particularly women health workers, who make up more than 70% of the global health workforce. At the same time, this theme emphasizes how health workers often put themselves on the line, often at great personal risk to themselves and their families, to save and improve lives.

We invite all health workforce stakeholders to join us by raising public awareness and engaging on health workforce issues, and recognize the lifesaving contribution of the health workforce. All activities will be filtered through a World Health Worker Week portal, hosted by the Frontline Health Workers Coalition secretariat at IntraHealth International.

 Some key ways to get involved:

• Add your voice to the #WHWWeek conversation on social media! Use the WHWW Social Media Guide with key messages, graphics, and suggested tweets.
• Participate in the WHWW Video Testimonial Series and tell health policymakers why frontline health workers are Leaders on the Line and how we can better support them. It’s easy to take part—see the guidance and upload your video.
• Celebrate World Health Day on Tuesday, April 7. In this International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, World Health Day will shine a light on the vital role nurses and midwives play in providing health care around the world, and call for a strengthening of the nursing and midwifery workforce. Share and promote World Health Day assets here.