Leading change: building healthier nations.

摘要

In line with the theme of the forthcoming International Council of Nurses (ICN) Congress there is a need for change and for ethical action to build healthier nations. A world divided by health inequalities and underdevelopment poses ethical challenges. Nurses are morally responsible professionals and it is important to sensitize them to the view that responses to health disparities must be rooted in ethical values about health resources and their distribution. Nurses should ground their advocacy and leadership for change in ethical principles and values. The ICN Code of ethics for nurses clarifies that the nurse's primary responsibility is to people who require nursing care.1 This responsibility includes assuming an advocacy role on behalf of persons whose rights to access to health care are not met. Nurses need to be familiar with ethical principles, including beneficence and justice, in order to lobby institutions and policy makers in reducing inequalities.