It is in very difficult times that we celebrate Easter this year. After COVID-19, still ongoing, all our attention has been going in the last weeks to the war in Ukraine and the huge human tragedy that it brings with it. Today thousands of people are forced to flee their homes to escape violence and seek refuge, in their own country or abroad. The scale of displacement is massive, and the numbers are growing.
As organisation, and as nurses, we are trying to do our best to support those who are at the forefront taking care of those in need and ensure access to healthcare and promote peace through a unified nursing response. Nurses and other healthcare professionals deliver care and treatment to all patients without fear or favour. As such, they must be allowed to do their work protected from threats and violence, and the healthcare facilities they work in must be shielded from harm. More than ever, international cooperation and solidarity are vital to support nurses and all healthcare professionals in the frontline.
In such difficult period, we would like to express our deep gratitude to all the Ukrainian nurses, and to the nurses and the EFN Members’ National Nurses Associations of the neighbouring countries, for all the great job they are doing to help those in need. It is with a heavy heart we have seen the humanitarian crisis evolve with unimaginable impact on your Ukrainian neighbours and the generous and noble response of their people and nurses to provide exceptional assistance against the backdrop of war and the relentless and outrages violence and atrocities.
Wishing you all a happy and blessed Easter!