International Nurses Day 2025: An ‘Angel’ in Ukraine

As we celebrate International Nurses Day 2025, we reflect on the past year and how global challenges highlight the importance of nursing within our teams. Nurse, Nyarai Makona, recently returned from a deployment to Ukraine, shares her experience of living and working in conflict with us: 

“You know, I couldn’t speak the language, so they ended up calling me ‘Angel’ because I would just smile, take my mask off, and ask my interpreter – do they need a hug? 

Just those little things because the communication barrier, I couldn’t express my feelings, but I could just smile.  

They look at me and say, ‘oh, just thank you for being here’.” 

Nyarai’s story 

Originally from Zimbabwe and now a NHS theatre nurse in the UK, Nyarai joined UK-Med to extend her care to those facing unimaginable crises. Through witnessing the work of humanitarian actors, she wanted to not only serve her local community but utilise her skills to support conflict-affected areas.  

“When I looked at the mission and the vision of UK-Med, I realised I can do it at a larger scale.” 

In Ukraine, she found resilience in the community, strength in teamwork, and heartbreaking challenges – like performing surgery only to find there were no bandages to cover a wound. 

Lack of resource continues to be a major challenge in Ukraine; the team would work with what they can, when they can, but the decrease in medical supplies is a serious cause for concern. With infection prevention a key priority of Nyarai’s, it would be difficult to see the impact of this on a patient who spent many hours in the operating theatre: 

“You finish the operation. The wound will be exposed, so infection will enter. Yes, we’ve been very careful during the operation. Cleaning your hands but the wound is going to the ward exposed or with a bandage that does not cover the whole wound.” 

A moment that stuck 

On her second day of deployment, Nyarai met a patient that changed her experience for the following ten weeks of her deployment. Arriving to the hospital in shock, the young man had a tourniquet around his leg, which had been applied four days earlier.  

In pain and terrified at the prospect of losing his leg, Nyarai approached him and began to talk. A little while later the doctor came in ready to take the patient to theatre and to his amazement said “do you know, we’ve never had someone laughing…” 

The power of a friendly face and a connection with patients made a big impact at the hospital, where she was consistently inspired by hope in the community.  

This young man, when discovering his leg would be lost, responded, “That leg is better than losing my whole life”.  

Once home in the UK, the lack of resources in Ukraine really stayed with Nyarai and she was determined to continue providing aid, even when thousands of miles away.  

With limited supplies and limited staff across the health system, UK-Med is one of the only INGOs remaining in-country to provide this level of care. Nyarai’s dedication comes from collaborating so closely with the Ukrainian staff and patients, working and living in tandem to lessen the burden of conflict on everyone’s lives.

Nurses at UK-Med 

From April 2024 – April 2025, UK-Med proudly deployed 45 nurses from our Register across a diverse range of critical roles, including adult ward care, critical care (ICU), infection prevention and control (IPC), emergency departments (including paediatrics), and theatre settings. This does not include HQ staff members who are nurses and either led these projects as Medical Coordinators or contributed their time to lead field hospitals.  

These highly skilled professionals responded to humanitarian health needs in some of the most challenging environments, with deployments including: 

Their collective expertise and resilience exemplify the very best of nursing practice under pressure. With 400 individuals on our Register possessing at least one nursing specialism – making up 29% of our total workforce – UK-Med continues to demonstrate the vital, frontline role that nurses play in delivering life-saving care around the world. 

Thank you to all the hardworking nurses providing this essential care. Happy International Nurses Day! 

Notes to editors: 

Additionally, some of our nurses were celebrated in 2025 for their critical care in crises: