“Those who care also need care,” cry out nurses from Brazil and the Global South.

Nearly two million people are nursing professionals in Brazil , the overwhelming majority of whom are women. They work in the so-called SUS (United Health Insurance), the public health service in Latin America's largest and most populous country.

There, as in almost all of the Global South, it is increasingly common for nurses to suffer from psychological and physical problems , whether due to excessive workloads, the environment, or working conditions , which have led to emotional distress reaching epidemic levels, according to Brazil's Federal Council of Nursing (COFEN), which is responsible for regulating and supervising professional practice in the country and promoting studies and campaigns for their improvement.

The COFEN also discusses and implements strategies to reduce the suffering of nursing professionals, in addition to offering personal support, while coordinating efforts and proposing policies to improve working conditions in nursing.

Just like doctors, Brazilian nurses take an oath upon graduation: that of providing comprehensive care to those in need. Therefore, and especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, which highlighted the work of healthcare professionals and definitively propelled them to the top of the rankings of the world's most stressful jobs, Brazilian nurses are responding to new scenarios and challenges—including emigration to countries such as Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and the United Arab Emirates—with class organization and training.

If the number of new nurses does not exceed the number of nurses retiring and those leaving due to poor conditions, a significant portion of the available health workforce will be aged, especially in the Global South.

The health workforce is extremely important for those in need of care. It is also important for the organization and resilience of countries. With this understanding, and operating in a world whose interconnectedness (including in health matters) has been compounded by polarization and a rise in extremism that fuels conflicts and humanitarian crises, Brazil included in the last G-20 summit , which it chaired, a proposal to reach an explicit commitment to professional qualifications and migration management for the health workforce. This represents a great starting point for moving toward a new era of smart, focused, and impactful cooperation.

The proposal encourages the search for collaborative solutions to improve health both locally and globally, and to strengthen responses to future emergencies, recognizing that there is interdependence in health matters and that the suffering of a significant portion of one country's health professionals could soon become the reality of all nations.

Prevention, local drug production, the impact of climate change on healthcare, and the importance of a "One Health" approach, which integrates human, animal, and environmental health, are the priorities established to advance this cooperation driven by Brazil.

These guidelines, wills and efforts have well-founded reasons: the world population will continue to grow to 10 billion in 2080 and UN projections indicate that life expectancy will reach 77.4 years in 2054. This means a large number of people demanding care in a context in which, if the number of new nurses does not exceed the number of nurses retiring and the number of those leaving the profession due to poor working conditions, a significant part of the available health workforce will be aging, especially in the Global South .

Given the mission they perform, nurses must regain a sense of social recognition. To achieve this, international cooperation is vital, enabling and facilitating the exchange of best practices related to the protection of healthcare workers and the promotion of decent working conditions, wherever possible.

Fair wages, safe cultures of services provided, healthy work environments and encouraging work-life balance are essential to reducing burnout and fatigue.

One of COFEN's demands, which the Brazilian government is analyzing, is the creation of a specific federal career for nursing professionals working in Indigenous territories. These nurses are essential for providing care to vulnerable communities, but they face precarious infrastructure conditions to carry out their work.

Nurses are the driving force of healthcare systems. Their prominence in addressing the pandemic, their implementation of key immunization efforts, and the recognition of their hard work on the front lines of the virus fight have shed light on the great vulnerability they face in their work routines, long hours, standing shifts, and many other demands, which were and are common problems that can lead to compassion fatigue and burnout.

Approaches to finding appropriate solutions must be considered within the context of national health systems, but given the global interconnectedness and interdependence of health care, their success requires robust international cooperation, both South-South, North-South, and triangular.

Qualifying, retaining, and protecting healthcare professionals depends largely on policy decisions related to training, compensation, and other incentives that foster decent working conditions. Fair wages, a safe culture of services provided, healthy work environments, and encouraging a work-life balance are essential to reducing burnout and fatigue.

It's about creating healthy work environments—considering their impact on personal and social health and well-being—through the design and implementation of innovative and creative solutions that effectively respond to the occupational, physical, and emotional needs of workers.

Investing in the well-being of healthcare professionals, especially nurses who serve at the front lines of healthcare systems, such as primary care, enhances the effectiveness and sustainability of these systems.

Nursing plays a fundamental role in essential care and can improve the coverage and quality of care provided. For the benefit of all, it's time to care for those who care. In Brazil and around the world.