ICN’s advocacy at WHO Executive Board: Investing in the nursing and health workforce for economic security

As the World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board (EB) meetings (2–7 February) get underway, the World Health Professions Alliance (WHPA), of which the International Council of Nurses (ICN) is a member, has written to the WHO calling for health workforce investment to be placed at the heart of the draft WHO Strategy on the Economics of Health for All (2026–2030).

WHPA, which this year is chaired by ICN CEO Howard Catton, brings together the global organizations representing the world’s nurses, physicians, pharmacists, physical therapists and dentists and speaks for over 47 million health care professionals in more than 179 countries or territories. Their letter welcomes WHO’s efforts to reframe health spending as a high-return investment rather than a cost. However, the health professional organizations urge WHO to go further by making explicit, actionable recommendations for sustained investment in the education, employment, retention, and protection of the health workforce as the foundation of resilient health systems and economies.

This call builds on ICN’s strong messages that health is integral to economic security. At the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, ICN CEO Howard Catton reinforced that social productivity, cohesion, and resilience to health and societal shocks all depend on investing in nurses and the wider health workforce.

ICN and WHPA will make several interventions during the Executive Board, highlighting the central role of nurses and health professionals in strengthening health systems, advancing universal health coverage, and underpinning economic and societal stability in an exceptionally challenging global moment.

Howard Catton said:

“At the WHO meetings, ICN and our WHPA partners will make the clear case that health professionals are not a cost to be managed but a strategic investment in thriving populations and economic growth. ICN will deliver statements to make the nursing voice heard on critical issues from mental health and primary health care to peace-building and ethical health workforce recruitment — all areas where nurses are on the frontlines, driving solutions and building healthier, more secure societies. Without sufficient, well-supported health personnel, our ambitions for global equity, economic growth, and societal resilience simply cannot be realized.”

ICN plans to make interventions on agenda items including: 

• Mental health
• Communicable diseases
• Primary health care
• The WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel
• Global health for peace

WHPA will deliver or support statements on: 

• The economics of health for all 
• The WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel 
• Data, digital health and artificial intelligence in the health sector