Iranian physician awarded Florence Nightingale medal 2021

TEHRAN – Iranian physician, Seyed Nasser Emadi Cheshmi, has won the Florence Nightingale Medal 2021, which recognizes exceptional courage and devotion to victims of armed conflict or natural disaster.

Emadi Cheshmi is a volunteer physician and a member of MSF (Doctors Without Borders) teams in Africa and West Asian countries, who was awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal in the 48th edition of the event.

Studied dermatology at the University of Tehran, he is now a faculty member at Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

His participation in various medical emergency teams in Iran, Iraq, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, Ghana, Nigeria, Burundi, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Afghanistan brought him the well-deserved award.

At the Eighth International Conference of Red Cross Societies in London in 1907, the assembled delegates decided to create a commemorative International Nightingale Medal to be awarded to those distinguished in the nursing field. Subsequently, the Florence Nightingale Medal was instituted in 1912 by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

It is the highest international distinction a nurse can achieve and is awarded to nurses or nursing aides for "exceptional courage and devotion to the wounded, sick or disabled or to civilian victims of a conflict or disaster" or "exemplary services or a creative and pioneering spirit in the areas of public health or nursing education".

The Florence Nightingale Medal Commission comprises several members and staff of the ICRC, several of whom are nursing professionals, and the head nurse of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. A representative of the International Council of Nurses also participates in the work of the Commission.

In 2015, Iranian nurse Ramin Kohankhaki was awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal by the National Red Cross.