Abstract

The failure of the World Health Organization (WHO) and Britain's National Health Service (NHS) to reappoint nurses to visible public policy positions doesn't bode well for people in need of health services (In the News, September). Some of the responsibility for this lapse falls on members of the nursing profession for not clearly communicating what could be done for humanity if resources were directed more evenly between medicine and nursing services. The WHO has repeatedly called for “primary health care for all,” but few nurses in public policy positions have offered the global presence of 16 million nurses as a solution. This is largely because medicine hasn't focused on preventative services based on teaching and encouraging people to help themselves—the unique function of nurses.