This book examines issues concerning how developing countries will have to prepare for demographic and epidemiologic change. Much of the current literature focuses on the prevalence of specific diseases and their economic consequences, but a need exists to consider the consequences of the epidemiological transition: the change in mortality patterns from infectious and parasitic diseases to chronic and degenerative ones. Among the topics covered are the association between the health of children and adults, the strong orientation of many international health organizations toward infant and child health, and how the public and private sectors will need to address and confront the large-scale shifts in disease and demographic characteristics of populations in developing countries.
In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.
On either side of the globe, poor people often do not have access to the health services they need. Improvements in health care systems in Asia have lagged behind economic development, and progress in expanding health coverage in Latin America has been skewed across income levels. Health Services in Latin America and Asia takes a close look at how countries in both regions provide health care services, including the strategies that work and the problems that persist. The book documents encouraging progress in Bolivia, Brazil, China and Vietnam, and important preventive care programs in Central America and Thailand. It also examines health services in Chile, Colombia, the Philippines and Malaysia, as well as the health system and insurance model in Japan.Even though public and preventive health require specific and sustained allocations, both regions continue to use health insurance and other supply mechanisms to expand health service coverage. The book recommends broadening the supply of services through family doctors and community health workers, an alternative approach that would likely improve the equity, efficiency and sustainability of services.
Your all-in-one companion for health personnel World Health Systems details different health systems, including their related health insurance and drug supply systems, in various parts of the world with both macro- and micro- perspectives. The book is arranged in five parts: the first part presents, from multidisciplinary perspectives, outlines of various health systems throughout the world, as well as current trends in the development and reform of world health systems. The second and third parts expound on the health systems in developed countries, discussing the government's role in the health service market and basic policies on medication administration and expenses, before analyzing the health systems of Britain, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Germany, France, Japan, Poland, USA, Singapore, Hongkong (China), and Taiwan (China). The fourth and fifth parts discuss health systems in less developed countries and areas, typically the BRICS and other countries in Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Armenia, and Kyrghyzstan), Africa (Egypt, Morocco), Europe (Hungary, Czech Republic, and Bulgaria) and South America (Cuba, Chile, and Mexico), summarizing their past experiences, while making assessments of their current efforts to shed light on future developments. Details a variety of health systems throughout the world Compares their fundamental features and characteristics Discusses their respective strengths and shortcomings Provides insight from an author who holds multiple impressive titles in the health sector Public health professionals and academics alike will want to add World Health Systems to their library.
This book addresses the puzzle of why the World Bank was unable to effect sweeping neoliberal health reforms in Latin America from the 1980s onward. Through the use of quantitative regional data together with interview and archival data collected during fieldwork in Argentina, Costa Rica, Peru, and Washington DC, this book argues that the answer to this puzzle is twofold. First, the World Bank has not promoted a uniformly neoliberal, monolithic agenda in health. Second, countries’ autonomy and capacity in this sector shape how the World Bank is involved in reforms. Finally, the book distinguishes neoliberal ends from means in health sector reform and traces changes in “banking on health” over time.
We are still only beginning to understand the increasingly complex set of interdependencies among gender, health and globalization. This book brings together a diverse group of distinguished scholars and activists to explore the new risks and freedoms for men and women in a global society and their health determinants. They map the gendered impact of these processes and present a health landscape that takes us beyond nation states into trans-border flows of capital, people, goods and services. Each chapter begins with a global analysis of specific trends followed by two 'In Perspective' pieces by authors from contrasting disciplines and geographies.
Essentials of International Health provides an introduction to international health with a focus on epidemiological, political, behavioral, sociological, cultural, and medical dimensions in the field. The text covers problems concerning both developed and developing countries (with an emphasis on developing countries) and introduces population-based public health approaches to solving international health problems. Topics include historical perspectives, health indicators, role of culture and behavior, communicable diseases, non communicable diseases, malnutrition, nutritional deficiencies and obesity, environmental health and population issues, health of women, health of children, mental health, world health systems, and future issues in international health. This text is ideal for undergraduate students, introductory graduate classes, and practitioners interested in working in developing countries.
There is a vast literature for and against privatizing public services. Those who are against privatization are often confronted with the objection that they present no alternative. This book takes up that challenge by establishing theoretical models for what does (and does not) constitute an alternative to privatization, and what might make them ‘successful’, backed up by a comprehensive set of empirical data on public services initiatives in over 40 countries. This is the first such global survey of its kind, providing a rigorous and robust platform for evaluating different alternatives and allowing for comparisons across regions and sectors. The book helps to conceptualize and evaluate what has become an important and widespread movement for better public services in the global South. The contributors explore historical, existing and proposed non-commercialized alternatives for primary health, water/sanitation and electricity. The objectives of the research have been to develop conceptual and methodological frameworks for identifying and analyzing alternatives to privatization, and testing these models against actually existing alternatives on the ground in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Information of this type is urgently required for practitioners and analysts, both of whom are seeking reliable knowledge on what kind of public models work, how transferable they are from one place to another and what their main strengths and weaknesses are.
Outstanding Academic Title for 2007, Choice Magazine Much has been written about medicine and the market in recent years. This book is the first to include an assessment of market influence in both developed and developing countries, and among the very few that have tried to evaluate the actual health and economic impact of market theory and practices in a wide range of national settings. Tracing the path that market practices have taken from Adam Smith in the eighteenth century into twenty-first-century health care, Daniel Callahan and Angela A. Wasunna add a fresh dimension: they compare the different approaches taken in the market debate by health care economists, conservative market advocates, and liberal supporters of single-payer or government-regulated systems. In addition to laying out the market-versus-government struggle around the world—from Canada and the United States to Western Europe, Latin America, and many African and Asian countries—they assess the leading market practices, such as competition, physician incentives, and co-payments, for their economic and health efficacy to determine whether they work as advertised. This timely and necessary book engages new dimensions of a development that has urgent consequences for the delivery of health care worldwide.