The lack of familiarity with the landscape can be addressed through cultural immersion. Nurses need to integrate within the culture that they treat, familiarizing themselves with the common maladies and understanding the environmental factors that cause them. Nurses need to become part of the community, and if they show that they are committed to the local landscape, they will be more likely to engender commitment from the native population as well.

One strategy for advocating health care at the global level is for nurses to immerse themselves in communities in the developing world. After living amongst the native people, nurses would acquire a first-hand perspective of the health issues facing the people, and by having to respond to the environmental pressures themselves, they would gain credibility. Instead of restricting themselves to using expensive technology, nurses should visit the public themselves and communicate health care solutions that the people themselves can implement (Chen, 2012). Instead of relying on antibiotics and emergency rooms to...

They need to view their role not only as nurses but also as therapists -- this means that they must listen to the natives describe their health issues, and offer advice even if it has not been scientifically verified. More often than not, the scientific instincts of the nurse are superior to those of the native, and advice should be given even when it is simply a gut feeling. This approach is effective because it not only seeks to repair existing illness but also focuses on transmitting the valuable health care knowledge that nurses possess to the local populations of the developing world.
References

Chen, P.W. (2012, July 26). What we can learn from third-world health care. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/26/what-we-can-learn-from-third-world-health-care/

Peters, DH, et al. (2008). Poverty and access to health care in developing countries. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1136, 161-171