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Varadkar added that he was “proud that we have made the country a more equal and more modern place when it comes to the rights of children, the LGBT community, equality for women and their bodily autonomy”…reports Asian Lite News

Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar will step down as party leader immediately and will resign as taoiseach as soon as his Fine Gael successor is selected.

Announcing his resignation, Varadkar described leading his country as “the most fulfilling time of my life”. He said he was stepping down for “personal and political” reasons and was “not the best person for the job anymore”. He was Ireland’s youngest PM when he became Fine Gael leader at 38 in 2017.

He currently leads the coalition government in Dublin, along with Fianna Fáil and the Green Party. Speaking from the steps of government buildings in Dublin on Wednesday, Varadkar said he had “led Ireland from unemployment to full employment, from budget deficit to budget surplus, from austerity to prosperity”.

During his time as taoiseach, Varadkar championed referendums to change the Irish constitution legalising same-sex marriage and abortion. Varadkar also listed work to improve the affordability of childcare among his achievements as well as increasing government spending on arts and culture, international development, and public infrastructure.

He also conceded that “there are areas where we have been much less successful” but added: “I hope you’ll forgive me if I leave it to others to point them out on a day like this.”

Varadkar said his reasons for stepping down were “both personal and political”. He said that he felt the current government “could be re-elected” but he felt he was “not the best person for the job anymore”.

The Irish government parties have said they do not expect Wednesday’s announcement to trigger a general election. In the election of 2020, Varadkar led his party to a third-place finish in terms of number of seats in Dáil Éireann, the lower house in the country’s parliament.

As part of the coalition deal struck between the parties it was agreed that Varadkar and Micheál Martin would each hold the position of taoiseach for two years.

In 2020, Martin was appointed taoiseach with Varadkar serving as his tánaiste (deputy PM), before the two swapped roles in 2022. Speaking after Varadkar’s resignation announcement, Martin said he had been “surprised” by the decision.

“I want to take the opportunity to thank him sincerely, we got on very well,” Martin added. Martin said he remained committed to fulfilling the full term of the coalition government.

Eamon Ryan, leader of the Green Party, the smallest of the three coalition partners, said Varadkar had been “an energetic and committed leader of the country who was always supportive of his government colleagues”.

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As part of that judging process, the general public voting system is now open…reports Asian Lite News

The voting system is now open for the public to cast their votes for the 2023 Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award, and select a grand winner.

Last week, it was announced Irish nurse, based in Dubai have been selected as finalist, joining another nine who were chosen from more than 52,000 entries from 202 countries.

Cathy Cribben-Pearse is a nursing leader with over 20 years of experience in the field. She has worked in the NHS London, Ireland, and most recently as a Director of Nursing Quality, Patient Safety, and Accreditation at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, one of the leading hospitals in the United Arab Emirates. During the pandemic, Cathy offered her services as a certified coach pro bono online to nurses and midwives who needed supportive counsel during these challenging times. She identified a need gap and soon nurses from all over the world were reaching out to access this opportunity.

As a nursing leader internationally, Cathy’s passion is to provide the best care to patients while having a sense of belonging, pride, and connection with a purpose of service. Her nursing career has been marked with many successful start-ups, including the first high dependency unit in the NHS for pregnant women with other clinical conditions, the first private colposcopy clinic in Ireland, and being part of the opening of one of the largest healthcare start-ups in the world in Abu Dhabi. As the Director of Nursing Quality, Patient Safety, and Accreditation at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, she oversaw the successful accreditation achievement of “Magnet,” the first hospital in the UAE to achieve the greatest nursing accolade in the world.

Vote here for Cathy to win here

As part of that judging process, the general public voting system is now open. Make your voice heard by voting for one of the ten finalists.

The top 10 finalists are:

UAE based Irish nurse, Cathy Cribben-Pearse: she subsequently resigned from her full-time Nursing Director position to establish “OakTree Mentoring” a programme designed to build a global mentoring community, bringing on board 200 nurses and midwives from around the world.
Kenya, Christine Mawia Sammy: She established the first ever newborn unit in Kitui county in 2010 by transforming a single nursery room into an independent newborn unit at the hospital, which helped neonatal mortality dropped drastically from above 50% to below 10% within a span of one year.
Panama, Gloria Ceballo: Gloria developed an educational program for nurses in the bone marrow transplant unit. Years later, this program has also been brought to force at her hospital – Hospital del Nino Doctor Jose Renan Esquivel.
Ireland, Jincy Jerry: To cut down on the potential for human error while collating results from laboratories, she designed an appropriate software solution. She won the Prix Hubert Tuor Innovation Academy Award in 2021.
Singapore, Lilian Yew Siew Mee: During the onset of Covid-19, Lilian activated a few nursing leaders and nurses to help set up 14 vaccination centres to stand aligned with the National Vaccination Program in 2020-2021. She also deployed a few nursing leaders to set up Covid-19 Treatment Facilities (CTF).
England, Margaret Helen Shepherd: She set up a national network of genetic diabetes nurses in 2002 to increase awareness of this condition (which is initially misdiagnosed in 80% of cases, resulting in patients being treated with unnecessary insulin injections). She was one of 70 national NIHR70@70 Senior Nurse Research Leaders (driving innovation and new roles to increase research awareness and engagement within clinical care).
Philippines, Michael Joseph: His telehealth programme for seniors improved health literacy among older adults in 2012 and his Breastfeeding and Breastmilk Banking (CRIB3) project improved care and restoration of infants. During the COVID-19 pandemic, his multimedia project on #VaccineEquity (with support from the International Council of Nurses) was deployed in various regions and countries.
India, Shanti Teresa Lakra: She has worked amongst Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands of Indian, Shanti is deeply committed to serving the people there and ensuring that adverse health conditions should not lead to their extinction.
Portugal, Teresa Fraga: She noticed that children with chronic illnesses did not have a support system, and so she decided to establish KASTELO – a palliative care unit in Portugal for children with chronic illnesses. Her goal is to provide quality care with innovation, arranging strategies to promote the quality of life of these children.
Tanzania, Wilson Gwessa Fungameza: Wilson observed that many newborn babies were dying, which led him to conducting a simple research survey on the cause of neonatal deaths. The research revealed that this was due to respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), especially in premature babies due to the immaturity of the lungs. Therefore, he invested and introduced the Improvised Bubble CPAP Device in the hospital which reduced the neonatal deaths from respiratory problems from 14.1% to 5.9%.

Speaking on this, Dr. Azad Moopen, Founder Chairman and Managing Director of Aster DM Healthcare said, “Millions of nurses across the world are working hard every single day to serve their patients and form the core of the healthcare eco-system. Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award is our way of acknowledging their dedication and recognizing their work. This year, with more than 50,000 nurses vying for the coveted award, it has been a hard task for the eminent Jury members to shortlist the top 10 outstanding nurses. Each of the finalists have a remarkable trajectory and have made significant contribution to the field of nursing. We wish each of them all the very best.”

Cathy Cribben-Pearse will join the other nine finalists and face a public voting process, followed by final evaluation by the Grand Jury judging panel. The ceremony will take place on Friday 12th May – International Nurses Day – with the award winner set to receive US $250,000 in prize money.

Notes: The final round will consist of public voting for each of the nurses starting from this week and in-person interview with the Grand Jury members consisting of: Mr. Howard Catton – Chief Executive Officer, International Council of Nurses, Switzerland; Prof. Sheila Tlou – Co-Chairperson, Global HIV Prevention Coalition and Ex – Minister of Health & Member of Parliament – Govt. of Botswana; Prof. James Buchan – Adjunct Professor, WHO Collaborating Centre for Nursing; Dr. J Carolyn Gomes, Vice-Chair of the Strategy Committee – The Global Fund Board and Board Member of The Developing Country NGO Delegation to the GF Board; Dr. Peter Carter, an OBE awardee, an independent healthcare consultant and former CEO of the Royal College of Nursing; and Dr. Niti Pall -Senior Digital Advisor for AXA (EC), Board Chair of Harbr and Managing Director of Health4all advisory.

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