By Lia Brigante, RCM International Team on 04 May 2023

The European Nursing & Midwifery Week (#ENMW2023) was developed by EFNNMA, a collaborative organization of WHO Regional Office for Europe, to celebrate and recognise nurses and midwives in Europe.

The 33th birthday of International Day of the Midwife (IDM) is fast approaching on the 5th of May 2023. Since 1992, on this day the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) leads a day of global recognition and celebration of the work of midwives which is observed by more than 50 nations worldwide.

For the very first time in 2023 we will also be celebrating the European Midwifery & Nursing (#ENMW2023). This week of celebrations has been developed by EFNNMA (the European Forum for National Nursing and Midwifery Associations), a collaborative organization of WHO Regional Office for Europe, to celebrate and recognise midwives and nurses in Europe. The RCM congratulates the president of EFNNMA, our very own Mervi Jokinen on this achievement for midwives in Europe.

The European Nursing and Midwifery Week (5-12 May 2023) aims to:

• Advocate for midwifery & nursing and a more inclusive society across Europe
• Raise awareness and reinforce existing messages about the midwifery & nursing workforce and its role in health and social care, aligned with key organizations at European level.
• To build trust and innovative ways of working together between all professionals contributing to midwifery  at local, national, regional, and European levels.

The idea for this year is to create a map of the WHO European Region with the country’s  midwifery initiatives/celebrations/conferences (online, face-to-face, blended, video, messages, and so on) in all European languages. EFNNMA will create a map in a special website and repository. This will be useful for connecting nurses & midwives, spark collaboration, innovation and raise the visibility of midwives in the region.

We at the RCM, are joining our midwifery colleagues in Europe to show and share our midwifery pride every day across Europe.

The First European Nursing and Midwifery Week takes place during the first full week of May (5-12 May) and encourages people to get involved in a growing movement for a healthy Europe.
We are stronger when we work together. 

Join us and work with us to get all the information about your planned events so that we can build a map and repository of European Nursing & Midwifery events:

• Complete the form about your event: https://forms.gle/LJhJQNb1NxUYUT8H6
• Send the leaflet or file of your event (5 – 12 May – and the closing days) to efnnma@gmail.com or info@efnnma.org 
• Use of available format and logo attached and online at www.efnnma.org