The Nursing Now campaign and the designation of 2020 as the “Year of the Nurse and Midwife” by WHO highlights the need to acknowledge the competence, increase the influence, and maximise the contribution of nursing to the achievement of universal health coverage. However, poor perceptions and misrepresentation of the professional role of nurses persists. The cluster-randomised controlled trial by Oye Gureje and colleagues (April, 2019) 1 published in The Lancet Global Health, which assessed the effectiveness of task-shifting and stepped care in the management of major depressive disorder at the primary health-care level in Nigeria, and the associated commentary by Bolanle Adeyemi Ola and colleagues,2 provide examples of how nurses are misrepresented and the need for the Nursing Now campaign…..more
Task-shifting must recognise the professional role of nurses
