The World Health Organization (WHO) states that more than half of the world’s population lacks adequate access to basic imaging technology, such as x-ray and ultrasound (Mollura, et al., 2014). Furthermore, globalization and “the projected doubling of cancer and cardiovascular deaths in developing countries in the next 15 years and the need for higher technology screening and diagnostic technologies in low-resource regions” highlights the critical need for increasing radiology’s presence within global health (Mollura, et al., 2017, p. 841).

In 2016, the United Nations developed a collaborative approach that involves numerous disciplines, including nursing, to address these global health disparities and help shift the world onto a more sustainable path. With nursing comprising the largest percentage of the health care workers globally and many nursing sub-specialties intertwined with radiology, it is in a position of distinct prominence to address the reoccurring themes of limited access to radiology and global health resources, including inadequate nursing education. These sorts of global initiatives provide a conduit for the nursing profession to expand its international expertise and broaden its scope of practice (Wong, F., et al. 2015).

The investment of interdisciplinary partners, nursing professional organizations and international alliances to join forces in supporting the mentorship, training and education of our global nursing workforce will enable enormous strides to be made in strengthening the world’s health systems while empowering the world’s nursing community to guide change for improved health outcomes in global health.