For her entire career, Marla Salmon, ScD, RN, FAAN, dean of Emory University's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, has wanted to convey the importance of nursing's contributions in ways people would understand. "Nursing has not been well understood by the public," she says. "It has not been celebrated or portrayed very well. But nursing is part of humanity and not just something that happens when someone is sick."
With the help of Johnson and Johnson and Emory University, she sought to develop a book project that would impart nursing's global significance. Nurse: A World of Care, by Peter Jaret and Karen Kasmauski, is the result. President Jimmy Carter, whose mother, Lillian Carter, was a nurse, told AJN, "This is a beautiful and inspiring book, yet it is also alarming. We see how nurses across the globe are heroically meeting the challenges of illness, aging, and poverty, but we also learn of a growing shortage of nurses and the resources they need. Nurses have the power to make a difference."
All proceeds from the sale of the book go to the education of nurses in global public health. To order a copy, go to http://www2.nursingsociety.org/Nurse.
A former photographer for National Geographic, Kasmauski emerged as the ideal photojournalist for the book. Her previous book, also coauthored with Jaret, Impact: From the Frontlines of Global Health, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2003. For her current project Kasmauski set out in search of nurses making a difference around the globe.
She started in Jamaica in September 2006. On AJN's cover, two Emory University nursing students carry chickens to distribute among that island's poorest families. "This picture shows that nursing is not just about giving shots and taking temperatures," Kasmauski told AJN. "It's also about doing what's necessary to keep a community healthy; if that means getting fresh meat, that's what a nurse will do."
On this page, the photograph at left shows a Palestinian nursing student named Khulood who lives and works in a refugee camp in Amman, Jordan. Nurses who get four-year training tend to leave for better jobs, Kasmauski explains. "It's one of these terrible crises where once you train someone well, they actually don't go back to help the people who need it most."
Shown above is an image from Kasmauski's trip to Venezuela last year, when she traveled with 80-year-old Sister Isolena, a parasitic-disease nurse and researcher. This area was known for onchocerciasis-river blindness. A banana seller insisted that she not pay for a bunch of bananas. Although Sister Isolena was adamant that she pay, "After a few minutes of arguing, she finally lifted up her hands and said 'fine,'" says Kasmauski. "She's a classic example of someone with that tough nurse facade and a heart of gold[horizontal ellipsis]. Very few nurses want to go to the remote areas that she does as a sister and nurse."
World Health Roundup
Dengue outbreak in Brazil. In late April in Brazil the death toll from the latest dengue outbreak surpassed that of its 2002 outbreak: 103 people had died of dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever, and 121,586 people had become ill from the mosquito-borne illness, the International Society for Infectious Diseases reported. This photograph (at right), taken in late March, shows a nurse at a hydration tent in Rio de Janeiro, the state hardest hit. The sign reads in Portuguese, "Hydration Center, Rio Against Dengue Fever." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued an outbreak notice to those traveling to tropical and subtropical regions; "travelers to Brazil should take extra precautions," it says, by using an insect repellent and wearing long sleeves and pants when outdoors to prevent mosquito bites. For more information, see "Dengue Fever," Emerging Infections,> April.-Joy Jacobson, managing editor
Cyclone Nargis devastated the Irrawaddy delta region of Myanmar (also called Burma) on May 3, creating a tidal wave that swept through villages, leaving nearly 1 million homeless and what some officials feared in the days after the storm would be 100,000 dead (pictured below, a man and woman taking their child to a hospital in Yangon on May 4). Neighboring Thailand sent shipments of food and other supplies, while the United Nations (UN) and the United States also offered aid, including a UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination team. In the early stages of the crisis, Myanmar's military government delayed the provision of visas for aid workers, while the UN was allowed to send a shipment of supplies. Distribution of supplies seemed problematic; soldiers lacked forklifts and had to unload Thailand's supply shipments by hand, reported the Reuters news agency.
Relief efforts were challenged because of poor roads and the destruction of boats. Many relief agencies are taking donations to support their work in the region; among them are the International Rescue Committee (http://www.theirc.org) and Save the Children (http://www.savethechildren.org).-Jennifer Moser
An outbreak of "hand, foot, and mouth disease" in China sickened almost 20,000 people, mostly children, and killed 30 between January and early May. A governmental requirement that health care providers report cases of this viral respiratory disease to the Health Ministry within 24 hours may have produced a sharp increase in reported cases, some said. The disease, most contagious during the first week of infection, is caused by enteroviruses and begins with fever, poor appetite, and malaise, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but painful blisters and sores soon develop in the mouth. A rash then spreads to the hands and feet; in the most severe cases meningitis and paralysis develop. Nose or mouth secretions, blister fluid, or feces can transmit the enteroviruses. This disease is not carried by animals and is not related to the "foot and mouth disease" that livestock can get.
The CDC reports that the disease is most common in summer and fall. A representative of China's Health Ministry said that the outbreak would not affect the upcoming summer Olympics in Beijing, reported the Associated Press.-Jennifer Moser
Alison Bulman, senior editorial coordinator