Fourth meeting of government chief nurses of the Newly Independent States : report on a WHO meeting, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, 1-3 October 1997

Abstract

As part of the broader process of change, health services are facing the fundamental challenge of cost containment. At the same time, they are struggling to cope with an increased demand for quality and choice and with changing demographic and social factors and, not least, advances in science and technology. The challenge for the nursing profession is to understand the implications of this transitional process, and to maximize its contribution within the reformed health services while reaffirming the spirit of the 1978 Alma-Ata Declaration and the 1988 Vienna Declaration. The aims of this fourth meeting were to gain a better understanding of the reform efforts in the newly independent states (‎NIS)‎ of the former USSR and their implications for nursing; to identify necessary changes if new roles for the profession are to be developed; and to look at key issues for the future. The meeting also provided an opportunity to increase knowledge of the nurse's role in health care reforms in Europe and to strengthen the network of nurse leaders in the NIS