My fellow frontline nurses, I salute you!

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My name is Litheba Lebusa, and I am an HIV clinical nurse with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) at one of the remote clinics of Ha Khabo in the Leribe District in Lesotho.

Over the years, nurses have played a vital role in the world’s most important public health challenges and achievements—especially in maternal and child health and in treating HIV, TB, and other epidemics.

This year, 2020, nurses play a crucial frontline role in saving lives from the fatal coronavirus pandemic.

I want to speak to my fellow frontline nurses:

We know health facilities can be high-risk areas, but we took an oath to care and support patients to restore their health. We decided to stand by our oath that we will be frontline workers in all health battles.

I salute all my fellow frontline nurses. Despite fear, workload and family responsibilities, you put on your uniforms and conquer the frontline space to give hope to those infected and affected by this novel pandemic.

I salute and honor all nurses who have been infected by COVID-19 and have succumbed to this merciless monster. Your footprints are forever engraved on the hearts of those upon whom you laid your restorative hands, on the hearts of those families that were in despair. For those who perished in the battle, you have left a mark that will never fade.

You lived! You loved! You cared! We will not forget you.

To all the living health care workers who continue with the COVID-19 battle, you may have not been awarded the top Nobel prizes, but I want you to know that awards are nothing compared to the lives that you have been able to touch, the faces that you were able to put a smile upon.

Nothing last forever. This too shall pass. So be of good courage, our dear nurses. Remember to keep strong so we together emerge as stronger generation when this monster of COVID-19 is a topic in history books. Until then, we need each other. Check on your colleagues, and above all, remember to protect yourself. Do not neglect your own health, because to win this battle, we need strong, healthy nurses.

In honor of the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingales’ birth, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated 2020 as the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife. According to WHO, nursing is the largest occupational group in the healthcare sector, accounting roughly 59 percent of health professionals. However, the world still needs 9 million additional nurses and midwives if it is to achieve universal health coverage by 2030 in the growing population of the world.