Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
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Comparative Study
Comparative health system performance in six middle-income countries: cross-sectional analysis using World Health Organization study of global ageing and health.
Objective To assess and compare health system performance across six middle-income countries that are strengthening their health systems in pursuit of universal health coverage. Design Cross-sectional analysis from the World Health Organization Study on global AGEing and adult health, collected between 2007 and 2010. Setting Six middle-income countries: China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia and South Africa. ⋯ We also found that cost remains a barrier to healthcare access in spite of insurance schemes. Finally, we found evidence of disparities across many indicators, particularly in the effectiveness and patient centredness domains. Conclusions These findings identify important focus areas for action and shared learning as these countries move towards achieving universal health coverage.
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Antimicrobial resistance is now recognised as a threat to health worldwide. Antimicrobial stewardship aims to promote the responsible use of antibiotics and is high on international and national policy agendas. ⋯ Building on a recent systematic review and expert roundtable discussions, we take a lifecycle perspective of antibiotic use in hospitals and identify potential targets for health information technology-based interventions to support antimicrobial stewardship. We aim for this work to help chart a future research agenda in this critically important area.