Global and Planetary Health

Abstract

The article focuses on the role of nursing in the progress of mankind. If nursing, along with other health professions, is to be able to critique national and international health policies and be equipped to address the global and planetary dimensions of health, the educational and research enterprise will need to be redirected beyond consideration of the immediate health benefits for the richest nations. Global health disparities and the need to sustain the biosphere must also be addressed. Whether nurses over the next decade accept this challenge depends on the extent to which current nursing curricula instill the importance of thinking about and a sense of urgency to address such issues as health for all, global justice, technology and its limits and environmental sustainability.