Role of the nurse in primary health care

One of the principal goals to which the Ministers of Health of the Americas have committed their peoples through the Ten-Year Health Plan adopted at Santiago in 1972 is the extension of health services in some form to every man, woman and child in the Hemisphere by the end of the decade. The nurse is in a unique position to contribute to the attainment of this objective. Recognizing the need to redefine the nurse's role in regard to the delivery of primary health care, PAHO/WHO, in collaboration with the Government of Costa Rica and the College of Nurses in that country, recently sponsored a Seminar on New Dimensions of the Nurse's Role in the Delivery of Primary Health Care. Held in San José from 27 October to 3 November 1976, this meeting brought together 19 professional nurses and 17 physicians from a total of 13 countries. The final report is transcribed below.