Abstract

Nigeria is a country that has stood tall in Africa and features prominently in global affairs, yet her healthcare system has suffered several down-falls. Despite her position as a country with huge human and natural resources, her health facilities are grossly inadequate, especially in rural communities and this robs her citizen of optimum health care. Good health is one of the fundamental human rights and the onus rests on the healthcare system to provide health services for health care consumers. A healthcare system is an organization of people, institutions, and resources that deliver health care services to meet the health needs of target populations. Such a healthcare system must have a good health services, a well-performing health workforce, and well-functioning health information system that  ensures equitable access to essential medical products, vaccines and technologies, a good health financing system and good leadership and governance for  quality, efficiency, acceptability, and equity. Available evidence posits that the Nigerian healthcare system has failed in all these indices. Nevertheless, nurses by virtue of their education, expertise, numerical strength and position as the first point of contact with patients, are well positioned to champion health care transformations. These reforms are needed for a strong and sustainable healthcare system. This paper discusses the Nigerian healthcare system and the role of the nurse in building a strong and sustainable health care system in Nigeria.

Key words:  Health care system, nurses, strong and sustainable.