Trends in nursing in South Africa and their implications for nursing education

Abstract

In South Africa there is a unique and difficult problem in that sparsely populated, outlying areas constitute a major load for health services. Varied cultures and degrees of tribalism and seemingly inaccessible terrain often deter or prohibit the extension of health services. Thus, with an ever increasing population (Black populations in dire need of preventive health education) and the influence of urbanisation and industrialisation, preventive and promotive services have seriously lapsed behind the more dramatic field of curative medicine, and may be considered a major reason for the unabating social breakdown in our community.