National Florence Nightingale Awards

President’s Secretariat

 

WHAT

The President of India presented the National Florence Nightingale Awards to nursing personnel in New Delhi (December 5, 2019) on the occasion of International Nurses Day.

 

HIGHLIGHTS

• The World Health Organisation has announced 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and Mid-wife.
• The year 2020 also marks the 200th birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, after whom the awards have been named.
• Nurse Lini Sajeesh from Kozhikode, who had passed away while caring for a NIPAH patient in Kerala, was honoured posthumously.
• The 35 other awardees who were conferred the award from President of India, included Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs), Lady Health Visitors (LHVs), and nurses, from different States and UTs.

 

NATIONAL NIGHTINGALE AWARDS

• The awards were instituted in 1973 by the Government of India as a mark of recognition for meritorious services rendered by nurses to the society.  It is named after Florence Nightingale was also known as ‘The Lady With the Lamp’.
• She was an English social reformer and the founder of modern nursing.
• Nurses play a vital role in addressing multiple health challenges, delivering quality and cost effective health care and responding to health needs of individuals, families and communities.

 

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE MEDAL

• At the Eighth International Conference of Red Cross Societies in London in 1907, it was decided to create a commemorative International Nightingale Medal to be awarded to those distinguished in the nursing field.
• The Florence Nightingale Medal was instituted in 1912 by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
• It is the highest international distinction a nurse can achieve and is awarded to nurses or nursing aides for “exceptional courage and devotion to the wounded, sick or disabled or to civilian victims of a conflict or disaster” or “exemplary services or a creative and pioneering spirit in the areas of public health or nursing education”
• The medal was restricted to female nurses until regulation changes in 1991.
• The vesica piscis shaped medal is composed of gold and silver-gilt and bears a portrait of Florence Nightingale surrounded by the words ‘Ad memoriam Florence Nightingale 1820–1910’. On the reverse, the name of the recipient and the date of the award are engraved, surrounded by the inscription ‘Pro vera misericordia et cara humanitate perennis décor universalis’ (‘true and loving humanitarianism – a lasting general propriety’).

 

 

International Nurses Day

International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world every May 12, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth. ICN commemorates this important day each year with the production and distribution of the International Nurses’ Day (IND) resources and evidence.

2020 – Nurses: A voice to lead – Nursing the World to Health
2019 – Nurses: A voice to lead – Health for All
2018 – Nurses: A voice to lead – Health is a Human Right
2017 – Nurses: A voice to lead – Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

 

 

Source: PIB

 

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