Secretary Thompson appoints ANA president Blakeney to attend World Health Assembly

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson has appointed American Nurses Association (ANA) President Barbara A. Blakeney, MS, APRN, BC, ANP, to attend the upcoming World Health Assembly, May 19-28 in Geneva, Switzerland, as a member of the official U.S. delegation.

"I am truly honored to have been selected to represent the nation's nursing community at this important meeting," Blakeney said. "The recent SARS outbreak reminds us what a small world this can be and it reinforces the fact that international cooperation is key to addressing a growing number of health care challenges. The World Health Assembly provides an important forum for tackling some of these issues,". Blakeney said.

Sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Health Assembly meets every year in May and provides an opportunity for health care professionals from across the globe to come together to develop solutions for health care concerns common to all nations. During its existence, WHO-led coalitions have succeeded in eradicating smallpox as well as other deadly diseases, developed standards for health care worldwide and raised international awareness of environmental health.

"Our participation in this international forum underscores the critical role that nurses play in health care systems around the world," Blakeney said. The nursing profession has enjoyed growing prominence at the meeting since a 1993 resolution on occupational health called nurses "the bulk and backbone of health services in developing and developed countries alike." ANA Presidents have represented nursing's interests in the U.S. delegations to the World Health Assembly in 1993, 1996 and 1998.

Blakeney was elected President of ANA in June 2002. A practicing nurse for more than 30 years, she is the former director of health services for the homeless at the Boston Public Health Commission and a former president of the Massachusetts Association of Registered Nurses. In 2002, Modern Healthcare named Blakeney one of the 100 most powerful people in health care.

ANA is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.7 million Registered Nurses through its 54 constituent associations. ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.