WHO recognizes the vital role that nurses play in primary health care delivery worldwide – including research, disease prevention, treating the injured, palliative care and more – which is represented through several World Health Assembly resolutions. These documents demonstrate the importance WHO Member States attach to nursing and midwifery services as a means of achieving better health for all communities.
Through the Department of Human Resources for Health (HRH), WHO works on many fronts to promote the role of nurses in health care delivery and expand the global health work force. The Department aims to facilitate the integration of nursing and midwifery services into other WHO programmes and provide evidence-based information on the global health workforce to assist countries and partners in collaborate efforts. WHO also supports technical efforts for capacity building at both the policy level and through in-country programmes, and works to forge networks and effective partnerships to help meet the global need for health care workers
Nursing
Nursing encompasses autonomous and collaborative care of individuals of all ages, families, groups and communities, sick or well and in all settings. It includes the promotion of health, the prevention of illness, and the care of ill, disabled and dying people. Nurses play a critical role in health care and are often the unsung heroes in health care facilities and emergency response. They are often the first to detect health emergencies and work on the front lines of disease prevention and the delivery of primary health care, including promotion, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation.
In many countries, nurses make up half of all health care professionals and have a vital role in how health actions are organized and applied, both at the front-line and managerial levels. They are often the first and sometimes only health professional a patient will see and the quality of their initial assessment and subsequent care is vital to strong health outcomes.
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