Health Priorities and Nursing in Mozambique - Essay Example

"Health Priorities and Nursing in Mozambique" is a great example of a paper on the health system.
Health care, in many countries, is the responsibility of the government and even though the private sector may play an active role, governments retain the highest authority in health care policymaking. This is however inclusive of other stakeholders’ input such as ideas and resources from local and international nongovernmental organizations. This paper discusses health priorities in Mozambique and implications on the nursing profession and nurses’ efforts to address the priorities.

Health priorities

Background information on Mozambique identifies barriers to care delivery and therefore the need for prioritization of needs towards the delivery of care and implementation of the developed strategies. According to data from the United States government, Mozambique ranks poorly on the human development index across the globe and most of the country’s citizens live in poverty, with more than half of the population living below dollar expenditure per day. Health facilities are also sparsely distributed and some people have to walk for over an hour to access their closest health facility. The facilities also lack equipment, human resource, and supplies for service delivery (The United States Global Health Initiatives, n.d.). Improving health care systems is one of the priorities for Mozambique. This strategy is consistent with World Health Organization’s guidelines and targets “health workforce,” “service delivery,” “medical products,” “vaccines and technologies,” “health information,” and “financing” (World Health Organization, 2009, p. 21). The priority aims at developing and improving healthcare personnel, improving capacities for planning and developing personnel management, and provision of financial support for advanced training. Service delivery focus aims at improving the management of care and accessibility of health services and technology for care delivery. Availability of care products and technology, relevant information, and finances are also the focus of the priority (World Health Organization, 2009).

The second priority relates to the burden of disease and aims at reducing the incidence, prevalence, and effects of communicable and non-communicable diseases. Maternal, infant, and child health forms the third health priority for the country with the aim of improving well being of the population segments. Another priority is social health determinants in the country. Environment, legal provisions, gender parity, economic factors, malnutrition, and promotion of care are the key focus areas under priority. “Leadership, governance, and partnership is another priority” (World Health Organization, 2009, p. 28) and focuses on the mediator role of the country’s health ministry and knowledge for management. The priority also focuses on improving collaboration among stakeholders to the healthcare sector and facilitating the sector’s reform processes.       

Nursing implications

The identified care needs and priorities in Mozambique identify roles of the nursing profession and nurses in facilitating achievements of the priorities’ objectives. Lack of resources is a major challenge and nurses, at individual and organizational levels, can advocate for efforts by the government and other stakeholders towards the availability of resources (Lundy and Janes, 2001). Nurses also play the educator role and can help in reducing the effects of a shortage of nurses and healthcare products through educating the public on self-care and possible application of locally available materials for prevention and management of complications (Stainton, Hughson, Funnell, Koutoukidis, and Lawrence, 2011). In assuming the caregiver role (Rosdahl and Kowalski, 2008), nurses can double their efforts in order to overcome the personnel shortage challenge, and initiatives such as mobility across villages can help.

The identified challenges in the country and the priorities mean that the nursing profession and nurses must be active in their roles. This will facilitate the realization of the priorities’ objectives.