Foundation Announces Expanded Support for DAISY International Advocate Program

The Health Carousel Foundation proudly announces a grant to maintain and expand the DAISY International Advocate Program. This unique program was launched in May 2020 to increase the global reach of DAISY Foundation™ awards honoring nurses. The presentation of six DAISY Awards® by the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Union marks the first awards sponsored by the program. The program operates in five countries today, and more than 50 nurses have been honored.

“We are so grateful to Health Carousel for their support in driving meaningful recognition around the world with DAISY. Thanks to them, skilled compassionate nurses who serve low-resourced communities are being elevated and celebrated with The DAISY Award,” commented Bonnie Barnes, co-founder of the DAISY Foundation.

The DAISY International Advocate Program is active in Cameroon, Ghana, Liberia, Uganda, and the Philippines, and all but the final listed country are included on the World Health Organization's Health Workforce Support and Safeguard List of 2023, meaning they are all among 55 identified countries worldwide with the most pressing health workforce challenges. In particular, these countries have a density of doctors, nurses, and midwives below the global median of 49 per 10,000. In short, they have a severe health workforce shortage, making meaningful recognition programs that are proven to elevate health workforce retention essential.

DAISY International Advocate Programs will likely launch in Nigeria and Cambodia in 2024. While Cambodia is not on the WHO Safeguard list, it still faces challenges in the nursing workforce. Nigeria has had rapid growth in the migration of its workforce. Reports as recent as 2020 show that Cambodia has only 9.5 nurses per 10,000 people, significantly below the average of 19 nurses per 10,000 people among low- and lower-middle-income countries in the East Asia and Pacific region.

"We have seen firsthand the power of meaningful recognition for nurses. Through this program's ongoing support, we aim to bring DAISY to Ministries of Health, nursing councils, and schools of nursing across the globe that lack funding to conduct these meaningful recognition programs. We are proud of what we have accomplished collaboratively with the DAISY Foundation." stated Andrew Lingo, executive director of the Health Carousel Foundation.

About The DAISY Foundation

The DAISY Foundation is a not-for-profit organization established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes by members of his family. Patrick died at the age of 33 in late 1999 from complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a little-known but not uncommon auto-immune disease. (DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.) The care Patrick and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired the creation of The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses, an evidence-based means of providing nurse recognition and thanking nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and patient families. Today, the Foundation expresses gratitude to the nursing profession internationally in over 6,500 healthcare facilities and schools of nursing in 41 countries through recognition programs that honor the super-human work nurses do wherever they practice, in whatever role they serve, and throughout their careers – from Nursing Student through Lifetime Achievement in Nursing and through the J. Patrick Barnes Grants for Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice Projects, Health Equity Grants and Medical Mission Grants. More information is available at http://DAISYfoundation.org.

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