This paper reports part of a bigger study whose aim was to develop an empowerment model that could be used to enhance nurse leaders’ participation in health policy development. A Delphi survey was applied which included the following criteria: expert panelists, iterative rounds, statistical analysis, and consensus building. The expert panelists were purposively selected and included national nurse leaders in leadership positions at the nursing professional associations, nursing regulatory bodies, ministries of health, and universities in East Africa. The study was conducted in three iterative rounds. The results reported here were gathered as part of the first round of the study and that examined the extent of nurse leaders’ participation in health policy development. Seventy-eight (78) expert panelists were invited to participate in the study, and the response rate was 47%. Data collection was done with the use of a self-report questionnaire. Data analysis was done by use of SPSS and descriptive statistics were examined. The findings indicated that nurse leaders participate in health policy development though participation is limited and not consistent across all the stages of health policy development. The recommendations from the findings are that health policy development process needs to be pluralistic and inclusive of all nurse leaders practicing in positions related to policy development and the process must be open to their ideas and suggestions. 1. Introduction and Background Information The World Health Organization (WHO) in the 49th World Health Assembly (WHA 49) recognized the potential of nursing to make a major contribution regarding the quality and effectiveness of health services. It suggested that nurses and midwives must be involved at all levels of the health systems and urged member states to involve nurses in health care policy and reform [1]. Since then, the agenda of strengthening nursing and midwifery has remained an important and recurring item of the WHO assemblies. In 2003, the World Health Assembly (WHA 56/19) recognized that in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), there is a need to provide support for countries to strengthen their nursing and midwifery services [2]. WHO has acknowledged that up to 90% of the health workforce comprises of nurses. Nurses and midwives make substantial contribution to health-delivery systems in primary care, acute care, and community care settings [3]. Despite their contribution to health care, they are seldom involved in policy development [3]. Still more worrying is that,
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