Nursing Recruitment

In the years following the First World War, a large amount of work was done to recruit young women to enter the nursing profession as it had been felt, in Europe and in North America, that the numbers entering were insufficient to meet the needs of the countries. In 1928, the International Labour Office asked ICN to look at conditions for nurses, which would then be included in the Office’s Report on Unemployment among Intellectual Workers, which was being submitted to the Advisory Committee on Intellectual Workers. It was evident that little statistical data relating to supply and demand was available, and it was only in Denmark that over supply was being felt, apart from seasonal instances in some countries. (ILO 1928)

International Labour Office (1928) Report on “Unemployment among Intellectual Workers,” The International Nursing Review (1933) Vol VIII (1-4):1

Leprosy and Tuberculosis

Two distressing diseases causing loss of life and difficult living conditions for those affected were Leprosy and Tuberculosis. Several Red Cross conferences, including in Rome in 1928, focused on the growing need to tackle Tuberculosis and Leprosy. Leprosy was the main health issue for ICN nurse member associations during this decade. Great improvements in treatment had opened up a field of work for the reduction and eventual stamping out to this disease. Leprosy had been known in Africa, India and China for over 3,000 years and it was in 350 BC that it invaded Greece. In about the eighth century it had spread over all of Europe including Great Britain. The disease died down in the latter half of the 14th century with the Black Death that killed almost half of the population of Europe. In 1929, modern treatment of iodide of Potassium administered by mouth was having good result. (League of Red Cross Societies 1926)

League of Red Cross Societies (1926) Resolutions Passed Second Pan-American Red Cross Conference Washington I C N, Vol 1(2) 73