Action call on global nursing shortage

Nursing experts have called for an internationally agreed index to decide which countries need help in recruiting and training nurses.

Experts met in Italy at a summit convened at a Rockefeller Foundation centre to assess the extent of the global shortage.

They called for a "global health and nursing equity index" which would match numbers of nurses to the burden of disease.

Aid-givers could then concentrate resources on training nurses in the most needy countries.

The conference called for developed countries to stabilise their work permit rules to enable nursing "exporters" to decide how many nurses to train.

Participant Professor Linda Aiken, of Pennsylvania University, USA, said: "Approximately 80 percent of nurses immigrating to the United States are from developing countries.

"However close to 60,000 nurses residing in the U.S. come from Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and other developed countries also facing nursing shortages.

"This contributes to the need for these countries to recruit from developing countries.

"This exodus of nurses from developing countries impacts the ability of these countries to develop sustainable health care systems, provide appropriate care, and manage disease."