Global public health
-
Global public health · Jan 2010
Achievement of equity and universal access in China's health service: a commentary on the historical reform perspective from the UK National Health Service.
This paper aims to examine the UK National Health Service (NHS) in the historical context of its background reforms and to investigate future developmental strategies for China's health system. We focus on the central issues facing China's future healthcare development: equity and access. ⋯ Conversely, China has moved from a centrally planned system to a fee-for-service system, but serious problems of inequity and access call for new methods of organisation and financing. With the future of both systems under constant debate, international experience will play a vital role in formulating health system reform strategies.
-
Global public health · Jan 2010
From a declaration of values to the creation of value in global health: a report from Harvard University's Global Health Delivery Project.
To make best use of the new dollars available for the treatment of disease in resource-poor settings, global health practice requires a strategic approach that emphasises value for patients. Practitioners and global health academics should seek to identify and elaborate the set of factors that drives value for patients through the detailed study of actual care delivery organisations in multiple settings. Several frameworks can facilitate this study, including the care delivery value chain. We report on our efforts to catalyse the study of health care delivery in resource-limited settings in the hope that this inquiry will lead to insights that can improve the health of the neediest worldwide.
-
This paper deals with three issues concerning economic valuation in global health. First, we argue that the economic value of health delivery in resource-limited settings is not fully captured through the adding up of successive assessments of individual interventions. Second, we suggest that economic valuations can be used to identify social barriers to the success of health technologies in resource-limited settings. Third, we briefly discuss new directions for research on economic valuations given the interdependency between poor health and economic impoverishment.