In New Zealand, nursing has developed the concept of cultural safety as the critical element in all interactions in the healthcare system between the Maori, the Indigenous People of New Zealand, and Non-Maori. This usually requires nurses to have undertaken a process of reflection on their own cultural identity and to have learned to practise in a way, which affirms the culture of clients and nurses. Cultural safety addresses the lack of sensitivity and understanding of some non-indigenous health professionals working with Indigenous Peoples and the often hostile culture of healthcare organisation receiving them. Efforts to attract, recruit, educate and retain more Indigenous Peoples into the health arenas need to be reinforced, especially at the health professional level. Developing a comprehensive human health resource plan in many countries is handicapped by the absence of good information about current numbers of indigenous professionals and other health care providers, the projected need, and the availability, accessibility and relevance of current educational programmes.
Professional nurses have an important role.
Often they are responsible for implementing and co-ordinating basic primary health care programmes being delivered by some combination of community worker or traditional healer. Incorporating traditional healers, medicines, and traditional health practices into health care for Indigenous Peoples is a challenge. It has been suggested that there are ways to incorporate traditional healers as counselors, mediators, therapists, and social workers. Training traditional healers to effectively and safely use simple treatments, instruments and supplies used in modern health care. Today Indigenous Peoples are not interested in integration of the two systems, but in finding ways to articulate traditional healing with modern healthcare 8 .