May 12 is celebrated each year as International Nurses' Day, and if there is one year we cannot overlook our nurses, it is 2020.

This is because health and the medical fraternity have faced, in our time, their greatest threat with the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, and nurses are staying the course.

The numbers have surpassed two hundred worldwide for doctors, nurses and health care agents who have died on the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While nurses undergo their boot camp to protect self and family from the infectious disease, we know that many cases of infections stem, in part, from lack of adequate personal protective gear, given the run on global supplies.

As we reflect on this year's theme 'A Voice to Lead — Nursing the World to Health', which shows the mammoth task facing the health care consensus and its agents on the front of the battle lines, we say, “Nurses, a big thank you”.