Role of Nurses in Developing Health Policies in Post- Apartheid South Africa

Background:  Nurses’ involvement in health policy ensures that health care is safe, high quality, accessible and affordable. Numerous factors influence nurse leaders’ ability to be politically active in influencing health policy development. These factors can be facilitators or barriers to their participation.

South African context on nurse participation in health policy:  There was fragmentation along racial lines, separate hospitals for different race groups. When the government in 1994 proposed a new policy to reduce inequalities and achieve universal access to health care, the Ministry of Health emphasized the critical role of nurses in the implementation of and success of health sector reforms towards universal coverage. There is no mention of the nurses having participated in the formulation of these reforms. Nurses who are mostly  women and African, are considered to be different but not equal to men and their nursing image is inherently linked to their low status in the African patriarchal society.

Conclusion:  As stated above, there are many factors that influence and contribute to limited nurses’ participation in health policy development. Phaladze found that policy-makers were of the opinion that nurses did not have skills in policy decisions, lack of policy and political skills is a hindrance for nurses’ policy participation, and lack of skills in public relations affects their ability to explain and promote nursing, insufficient involvement in policy formulation committees and sub optimal communication.

Lessons learned: South African nurses face challenges in being involved in health policy development at grassroots level as well as government level.