Florence Nightingale Bicentenary

The 12th May this year marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale. Her primary fame came from her work as a nurse during the Crimean War, but she was also a social reformer, statistician, writer and was committed to spreading medical knowledge. Her social reforms included improving healthcare for all sections of society, advocating better hunger relief in India, helping abolish prostitution laws and expanding the acceptable forms of female participation in the workforce. Nightingale wrote Notes on Nursing (1859) a book which served as the cornerstone of the curriculum at the Nightingale School and other nursing schools. She assisted in the care of the British Army in India and demonstrated that bad drainage, contaminated water, overcrowding, and poor ventilation were causing high death rates.

Florence Nightingale