Global Healthcare and Nursing
The brief defines global health issues by the cooperation they demand. Pick a trend where the coordination problem is the interesting part, not one where the disease is.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 23, 2026
Coordination is what makes an issue global
The definition the brief supplies is the instruction. A global health issue is not simply a disease that occurs in many countries; it is one that no single country can address alone, which is why the passage emphasises interprofessional and interagency cooperation across governments, non-profits and private foundations. Choose a topic where that structure is visible and the paper writes itself. Antimicrobial resistance is the clearest example, since prescribing in one country determines the resistance another country faces and no domestic policy can fix it. Human trafficking crosses borders by definition and requires health, law enforcement and immigration systems to work together. Vaccine access sits between manufacturers, national governments and multilateral purchasing arrangements. Each has a coordination problem at its centre rather than a clinical one, which is what the brief's definition points you toward, and each comes with documented machinery you can name. No domestic policy alone can close any of them.
Then say where nursing actually sits, because the assignment is a nursing one and the temptation is to write a global health essay with a nursing sentence at the end. Nursing appears in these issues at three levels and naming them keeps the paper anchored. At the point of care, nurses are usually the first to recognise the individual case, whether that is a trafficking presentation in an emergency department or a resistant organism in a wound. At the system level, nurses design and run the surveillance, stewardship and screening programmes that translate global strategy into local practice. At the workforce level, nursing itself is a global equity issue, since the migration of nurses from lower-income to higher-income countries is both a solution to one shortage and a cause of another, and there are international recruitment codes precisely because of it. That third level is the one most students miss and it is the strongest material available.
Likely learning objectives
- Distinguish a global health issue from a widespread disease.
- Identify the interagency structure an issue requires.
- Locate nursing at point of care, system and workforce levels.
- Recognise nurse migration as a global equity problem.
Assignment instructions
Read the full question
Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.
In this written assignment, identify one specific contemporary issue or trend that you are interested in learning more about. Choose from the categories below. Permalink: https:///Global Healthcare and Nursing/ For example you might want to learn more about why it is more difficult for some groups to receive care than others, which would fall under Client Access to Care. Or, you might want to compare nursing practice in the U.S. with how nurses practice in Japan, which would fall under the category of Global Healthcare and Nursing. Global health issues (GHIs) require global cooperation in response, planning, prevention, preparedness, and care that reflects health equity issues among nations. These issues require complex interprofessional and interagency cooperation and solutions that involve governments, non-profits, and many times include private companies and foundations. More than ever, the response to GHIs requires a broader understanding of how connected we are in today’s world. This article considers response to issues of emerging infectious diseases, human trafficking, maternal-newborn health; preparedness for health inequities within a framework of social justice, equity; and mal-distribution of health workers globally. We define and describe emerging global health issues from a nursing perspective and offer a call to action for nurses to increase awareness as global leaders. Citation: Edmonson, C., McCarthy, C., Trent-Adams, S., McCain, C., Marshall, J., (January 31, 2017) “Emerging Global Health Issues: A Nurse’s Role” OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing Vol. 22, No. 1, Manuscript 2. Global Healthcare and Nursing DOI: 10.3912/OJIN.Vol22No01Man02 https://doi.org/10.3912/OJIN.Vol22No01Man02 Key Words: global health issues, nursing, emerging infectious disease, maternal – newborn health, social justice, equity, human trafficking Global health issues transcend national boundaries.Global health issues (GHIs) transcend national boundaries (Koplan et al., 2009). These issues require global cooperation in response, planning, prevention, preparedness, and care that reflects health equity issues among nations. GHIs require complex interprofessional and interagency cooperation and solutions that involve governments, non-profits, and many times, include private companies and foundations. More than ever, GHIs force a broader understanding of how connected we are in today’s world.
What this global health assignment requires
- 01One specific contemporary issue or trend identified from the categories provided.
- 02An exploration of that issue as a global health question.
- 03Coverage of the cooperation the issue requires across sectors and agencies.
- 04The relevance of the issue to nursing practice.
The issue, the actors, then nursing's part
The issue and why it is global
Define the issue and show that no single country can address it.
What the assessor is likely looking for
Cross-border dependency demonstrated.
Who has to cooperate
Name the governments, agencies, non-profits and companies involved.
What the assessor is likely looking for
Named actors with distinct roles.
Where the equity sits
Analyse how the burden and the capacity to respond are distributed.
What the assessor is likely looking for
Inequity treated as the substance rather than the context.
Nursing at the point of care
Describe how the issue presents to a nurse and what recognition requires.
What the assessor is likely looking for
A recognisable clinical encounter.
Nursing at system level
Describe surveillance, stewardship or screening programmes nurses run.
What the assessor is likely looking for
Programme-level nursing work rather than individual care.
Nursing as a global equity issue
Address workforce migration and international recruitment.
What the assessor is likely looking for
The workforce dimension raised at all.
Where global health data and policy sits
Recommended databases
- World Health Organization
- PubMed Central
- NCBI Bookshelf
- CINAHL
Search sequence
- 1.Read the international body's own framing of your chosen issue first.
- 2.Search for the coordination mechanism, since that is the paper's subject.
- 3.Look up nursing workforce migration data for the third level.
- 4.Find one source from a lower-income country's perspective rather than only domestic ones.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Global Health Observatory
World Health Organization · 2025
Global health data, for establishing the distribution of burden.
Primary health care
World Health Organization · 2023
Primary health care as the international framework for delivery.
The Nursing Workforce - The Future of Nursing 2020-2030
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, NCBI Bookshelf · 2021
The nursing workforce, for the migration and supply argument.
Health Workforce Projections
Bureau of Health Workforce, Health Resources and Services Administration · 2026
Workforce projections, for the destination side of nurse migration.
Health Disparities
MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine · 2024
Health disparities, for the equity framing the brief requires.
Before you submit
Common mistakes
- Choosing a disease rather than a coordination problem.
- Writing a global health essay with nursing added at the end.
- Ignoring the private and non-profit actors the brief names.
- Treating health inequity between nations as background rather than as the subject.
- Missing nurse migration as an equity issue in its own right.
Submission checklist
- Does your issue genuinely require cross-border cooperation?
- Have you named the specific agencies and sectors involved?
- Is nursing located at more than one level?
- Is equity between nations addressed directly?
- Are your sources international rather than domestic only?
Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read Brinevia's academic-integrity policy.
Written by
Maren Caldwell
MSN, RN, CNE
Medical-surgical nursing, pharmacology and NCLEX preparation
Maren is a registered nurse with over 15 years of clinical and educational experience in medical-surgical nursing. She writes on NCLEX preparation, patient care fundamentals, pharmacology and evidence-based practice.
Reviewed by
Dr. Tessa Redmond
DNP, RN, CNE
Evidence-based practice and clinical education
Tessa is a doctorally-prepared nurse educator. She reviews Brinevia content for clinical accuracy and alignment with current evidence-based guidelines.