International Nurses Day 2026

On May 12 we celebrate International Nurses Day 2026. In observance, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) launches a regional campaign highlighting the critical role of health workforce planning and the expansion of nursing roles as pathways to strengthen health systems in the Americas. This initiative invites stakeholders to reflect on current and future health workforce challenges and to explore evidence‑based strategies that enhance access, quality, and resilience across health systems. Through dialogue, knowledge exchange, and collaboration, the campaign underscores the essential contribution of nursing to achieving more equitable and sustainable health outcomes in the Region.

• The Region of the Americas has approximately 7.4 million nursing professionals, representing 63% of the health workforce and constituting the largest professional group within health systems.
• The distribution of the nursing workforce remains uneven across countries in the Region: density ranges from 7 to more than 130 professionals per 10 000 population, and nearly 40% of countries have fewer than 30 professionals per 10 000 population.
• Advanced Practice Nursing (APN) has been consolidated in several countries as a strategy to expand access to health services, particularly in primary health care. Currently, more than 100 countries worldwide have developed advanced practice nursing roles.
• The role of advanced practice nurses involves new competencies and a new model of care, opens additional practice settings, and promotes autonomy, collaboration, and social and economic recognition.
• In the Region of the Americas, two countries— Canada and the United States —have well-established Advanced Practice Nursing models. In other countries in the Region, development is still incipient and requires appropriate regulatory frameworks, postgraduate training programs, and strategic workforce planning for sustainable implementation.
• Integrating workforce planning with expanding the role of nursing helps optimize the availability of professionals, improve the problem-solving capacity of health services, and strengthen the responsiveness of health systems to growing population health needs.