Public Health Nursing in Latin America

Abstract

ABSTRACT This reprint of excerpts from an article printed in Public Health Nursing in February 1950 by Hazel O'Hara, a staff writer for the Institute of Inter‐American Affairs, describes the state of public health nursing in clinics operated under the cooperative health programs of the Institute of Inter‐American Affairs, in conjunction with governmental entities in Latin American countries and the United States federal government in the mid‐20th century. The Institute of Inter‐American Affairs was an important element of Franklin D. Roosevelt's “Good Neighbor” policy toward Latin America. Conceived by Nelson Rockefeller, Assistant Secretary of State in the Roosevelt administration, the program was delayed by the outbreak of World War II (NLM, 2005, June 22). O'Hara's colorful descriptions of jungle residents and poor residents of urban slums have been omitted because they reflect a past time and sensibility. The remaining information, however, is significant in understanding the development of public health nursing in countries where it had not previously existed, the expansion of the nursing workforce, and the creation of health centers that served communities to improve social conditions as well as health status.