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In 2014, Columbia University School of Nursing (CUSON) examined its nursing education program and boldly began to transform the preparation of future nurses to include global health equity as a focus. From this review, the school initiated a program, the Global Students Clinical Program (GSCP), where for 6 weeks nursing students completing the prelicensure accelerated bachelor and Master of Nursing degree program are selected to learn and practice under the faculty leadership of nurses and midwives at clinical sites in primarily Global South countries (Dohrn et al., 2018). Now marking a decade of experience, CUSON is celebrating and reflecting on where we are toward meeting our goal of graduating students with a strong understanding of the global responsibility of nursing professionals to see themselves as advocates for health justice and equity in active solidarity with nurses everywhere.
We live in a world confronting many crises that include the reality of deadly infectious diseases with the potential to spread from one country to another with rapid speed; the escalating numbers of people in forced migration, fueled by wars, famine, and violence; and the increasing effects of human-made climate change making many lands uninhabitable. All of these issues affect people's health, and nursing, as the largest cadre of the health professions and on the frontline, can provide high-quality care if it is recognized at leadership and policy levels. Nurses globally provide the connections to the communities they serve and provide the knowledge of what people see as their health problems in the context of cultural and spiritual values; they provide evidence-based care and adhere to the ethical principle that everyone is entitled to the highest level of health care as a human right. Nurses need to be poised and empowered to provide and model health solutions for countries, regions, and the globe (World Health Organization, 2021).
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic exposed vividly the sizeable inequities between Global North and Global South countries. Essential resources, such as access to clean water, gloves, and oxygen, were scarce for the majority of people; protective vaccines initially were the privilege solely for Global North citizens (The Lancet, 2023). Once vaccines were more widely distributed, many countries with strong public health systems responded with mandated...