This article is part of the network’s archive of useful research information. This article is closed to new comments due to inactivity. We welcome new content which can be done by submitting an article for review or take part in discussions in an open topic or submit a blog post to take your discussions online.
The WHO Independent High-level commision on NCDs released a statement by the President of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) Annette Kennedy. According to statement the notion of health as merely affected by biological and pathological causal factors can be challenged. An ICN publiation shows that there are political, social, economic, scientific and cultural actions that can advance good health for all.
The majority of “health systems around the world are mainly focused on disease rather than on as a person as a whole, whose body and mind are linked and who needs to be treated with dignity and respect (Special Rapporteur, 2008).”
The conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age have a predominant effect on the burdens of illness and the premature loss of life. Notwithstaning these conditions pointing to sustainable developmental goals that need to be addressed, it is in this regard that nursing can have a profound effect on enabling a human rights perspective of health.
One avenue to enable these human rights is for nurses to engage with and initiate research leading to advancing evidence-based medicine related to NCDs.