Senior nurses from more than 130 countries have urged world governments to protect and invest in nurses, in a formal statement agreed today.
This statement, the Helsinki Communiqué, raised issues including nursing education, fair pay, protecting nurses in warzones and protecting developing countries from predatory international recruitment.
Its recommendations and wording were voted and agreed upon at the 2025 meeting of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) Council of Nursing Associations (CNR) in Helsinki, Finland.
The CNR met ahead of the opening of the 2025 ICN Congress, which is also being hosted in Helsinki this week.
Consisting of 140 national nursing associations representing 137 countries, the CNR acts as a representative assembly of nurses in member states of the ICN.
The Helsinki Communiqué was made up of eight key recommendations, which will be shared with country leaders.
National nursing association members discuss the Helsinki Communiqué
Recommendation 1: Investing in and support for nursing
ICN has urged “immediate action” to invest in the profession, following “concerning findings” about the current levels in some parts of the world, as shown by the State of the World’s Nursing report and others.
Recommendation 2: Pay, working conditions and workload
This recommendation focused on a demand for “fair wages”, as well as better working conditions and safe workloads for nursing staff.
The ICN called for workforce planning in every country to take into consideration the retention and “ethical” recruitment of nurses as well as staff wellbeing support.
Recommendation 3: International recruitment
ICN recommended the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel be strengthened.
This non-binding code prohibits the active recruitment of healthcare staff, including nurses, from certain countries that are struggling with workforce shortages. It is also known as the WHO “red list”.
Recommendations 4 and 5: Humanitarian law
These recommendations called for the safeguarding of nurses, and other healthcare workers, in areas of conflict and humanitarian disaster zones, such as Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine.
The ICN, which has repeatedly condemned the targeting of healthcare workers, called for peace and for the protection of workers, describing nurses as both “health makers” and “peace makers”, recognising the role some are playing in these areas.
Recommendation 6: Regulation and education
The ICN called for the “strengthening” of nurse regulation, education and professional development.
It also called for the creation of national nursing acts that define what a nurse is.
Recommendation 7: Nurses leading change
CNR members voted to underline the importance of nurses in areas that are key to addressing healthcare challenges in the future, including digitisation and improving primary healthcare.
Recommendation 8: Career progression and leadership
The final recommendation surrounded the need to create leadership opportunities for nurses, and to improve career progression.
This included expanding advanced practice nursing roles for those who wish to progress but remain in clinical practice.
The Helsinki Communiqué was overwhelmingly supported by CNR members, with no votes against and five abstentions, out of the 81 voting members.
Following its approval, ICN president Dr Pamela Cipriano thanked members for their contributions and said she hoped they would “use it” in their home countries to lobby governments to make improvements.
The final version of the communiqué will be published by the ICN later this week.
