The lady with the lamp or the lady with the pie chart?

The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated 2020 as the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife. The year-long celebration of our professions was acknowledged as important by the WHO, given the critical role that the nursing and midwifery profession plays in supporting the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals and the ambition for universal healthcare coverage. The timings for these celebrations also coincide with the bicentenary of the birth of Florence Nightingale.

It was not until I started working in public health that I fully appreciated how Nightingale had used statistics to achieve major health reform. Having collected hospital mortality data for 2 years, while out in the Crimea, Nightingale used a then pioneering way to present her findings. Using her rose chart (also known as a polar area diagram), she was able to clearly illustrate that most people were dying from poor sanitation and infection, which was considered largely preventable (Nightingale, 1859). The presentation of data was compelling and later led to significant health reform. So, in 2020, we should celebrate the nurse, statistician and public health leader who challenged the world to consider doing things differently to save and improve lives.