Florence Nightingale’s legacy lives on as the world faces the COVID-19 coronavirus

Mar 10, 2020

Florence Nightingale is considered one of the founders of modern nursing. Image: Elizabeth Bosanquet/FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE MUSEUM/Handout via REUTERS

Mindy Burrows

Freelance Journalist , Reuters

Our Impact

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how COVID-19 is affecting economies, industries and global issues

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

COVID-19

Have you read?

Health nursing nurse history doctor medicine Florence nightingale museum London exhibition bi-century virus contagious contagion viruses diseases lab laboratory doctor health dr nurse medical medicine drugs vaccines vaccinations inoculations technology testing test medicinal biotechnology biotech biology chemistry physics microscope research influenza flu cold common cold bug risk Coronavirus china virus health healthcare who world health organization disease deaths pandemic epidemic worries concerns Health virus contagious contagion viruses diseases disease lab laboratory doctor health dr nurse medical medicine drugs vaccines vaccinations inoculations technology testing test medicinal biotechnology biotech biology chemistry physics microscope research influenza flu cold common cold bug risk symptomes respiratory china iran italy europe asia america south america north washing hands wash hands coughs sneezes spread spreading precaution precautions health warning covid 19 cov SARS 2019ncov wuhan sarscow wuhanpneumonia pneumonia outbreak patients unhealthy fatality mortality elderly old elder age serious death deathly deadly

Nightingale was dedicated to teaching nursing throughout her life. Image: Elizabeth Bosanquet/FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE MUSEUM/Handout via REUTERS

Nightingale in her youth. Image: Elizabeth Bosanquet/FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE MUSEUM/Handout via REUTERS

Florence Nightingale earned the nickname 'The Lady with the Lamp'. Image: Elizabeth Bosanquet/FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE MUSEUM/Handout via REUTERS

How might Florence Nightingale respond the to the health advice surrounding coronavirus? Image: Elizabeth Bosanquet/FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE MUSEUM/Handout via REUTERS

Nightingale lived to the age of 90. Image: Elizabeth Bosanquet/FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE MUSEUM/Handout via REUTERS

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.