Redirecting international donor funding away from vertical programming and communicable diseases to developing and supporting the nursing workforce is the only way to ensure there will be enough nurses to achieve the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals, including universal health coverage.
The COVID-19 pandemic left an indelible mark on health systems around the world and created a greater awareness of the need for more trained nurses. While the world gained insight during the pandemic about the limited number of nurses, health care leaders have long known of this crisis.
Pre-pandemic, the nursing shortage was estimated to be almost 6 million. Strikingly, nearly 90% of this shortage is located in low- and middle-income countries.