The Nightingale Initiative for Global Health (NIGH): Nursing Leadership for a Healthy World

The Nightingale Initiative for Global Health (NIGH) is a grassroots nursing leadership movement empowering nurses to stand for a “Healthy World” everywhere. The idea for NIGH began when three Nightingale scholars presented at the 2003 STTI Biennial Convention in Toronto. Sharing their research on Florence Nightingale. Drs. Barbara Dossey, Louise Selanders and Deva-Marie Beck saw the need to look beyond simply studying Nightingale's panoramic life to write books and articles. They were keen to create a wider public awareness about relevance of Nightingale's the insights to deal with the pressing health issues in the world today. Nightingale modeled individual responsibility for personal health and well-being and commitment to serve communities and society. She was a consummate health policy advocate who influenced the world leaders of her time and an ardent environmentalist who changed conditions that caused disease. She was a global networker who interacted with thousands of people around the world about furthering and promoting health issues. She was an effective media and communications expert who knew how to impact upon public awareness to change how people valued health in her time. And, she knew — from her own prolonged experience in coping with chronic illness — how important personal health is to every individual. She called all of these efforts “Health Nursing.” In our 21st century “global village,” these broader Nightingale insights can become skills for further development by today's nursing leaders — and many other civil society stakeholders. In Nightingale's footsteps, NIGH seeks to: create a force for global health by raising global public awareness and encouraging relevant action; facilitate a paradigm shift for humanity involving nurses as leading global citizens and catalysts for change; strengthen the contributions of the worldwide community of nurses, midwives and related healthcare workers; and involve leading-edge technology to accomplish these mandates.