ABSTRACT
The objective of this paper is to analyze the importance of nurses as key providers of preventive services for Mexican children and adolescents. Nurses represent a long-standing tradition as public health providers and are very close to the individual, the family and the community. Their contribution to the preventive care of patients of these age groups is explicit and tangible. Health needs for this segment of the population and the current conditions of the Mexican health care system call for further actions. Preventive care should be accessible, high quality and comprehensive. To accomplish these goals it is necessary to invest in the public health workforce. Also, the need to increase its efficiency and effectiveness of preventive services should prompt the Mexican health care system to support the skill mix and promote the presence of nurse practitioners in primary care facilities.