Int J Health Serv
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This article reviews the deteriorating health situation of the Palestinian population during the post-Oslo period of the Palestinian Authority and during the current Intifada. It seeks to record findings obtained through primary participants and documents and from personal observations in the field that situate Palestinian health conditions within their political framework. The ongoing crisis highlights longstanding problems in the Palestinian health infrastructure, which make it more vulnerable to Israeli policies, especially the movement restrictions and closures. ⋯ Israel's indiscriminate obstructions to the coordinated functioning of a health care system in Palestine increase morbidity, degrade health, promote premature deaths, and damage the medical infrastructure. Moreover, the Israeli actions transgress international law and, ultimately, make peace in the region much less likely. This analysis provides further evidence of the social justice violations and the wide-ranging effects on health experienced daily by the Palestinian people as a direct result of the Israeli military occupation.
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The cost of prescription drugs is imposing an ever greater burden on families and varying levels of government. The vast majority of this cost is attributable to patent protection, since most drugs are actually relatively cheap to produce. The temporary monopolies provided by patent protection have been the main mechanism through which corporations have financed their drug research. ⋯ The author shows that even if publicly funded research were considerably less efficient on a dollar-per-dollar basis than patent-supported research, there would still be enormous gains from switching to a system of publicly supported research. The main reason for this conclusion is that patent monopolies lead to enormous economic distortions, including expensive sales promotion efforts, research into "copycat drugs," incentives to conceal unfavorable research findings, and other inefficiencies that economic theory predicts would result from a government-created monopoly. The gains from publicly supported research, coupled with a free market in the production of drugs, could reach into several hundred billion dollars annually within a decade.
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The Sugar Association, representing the U. S. sugar industry, is highly critical of a WHO report on guidelines for healthy eating, which suggests that sugar should account for no more than 10 percent of a healthy diet. ⋯ Secretary of Health and Human Services to use his influence to get the WHO report withdrawn. The WHO strongly rejects the sugar lobby's criticisms.
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Drug companies' quest for speedy results has led to a boom in trials based in developing countries, where ethical standards may be lax and the impoverished sick abundant. According to the U. ⋯ Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General's office, the number of researchers based outside the United States seeking new drug approvals has increased 16-fold over the last decade. In this article, a 1996 Pfizer trial in Nigeria--the subject of a controversial class-action suit--illustrates the dangers.
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The U. S. health care system is deteriorating in terms of decreasing access, increased costs, unacceptable quality, and poor system performance compared with health care systems in many other industrialized Western countries. Reform efforts to establish universal insurance coverage have been defeated on five occasions over the last century, largely through successful opposition by pro-market stakeholders in the status quo. ⋯ Six myths are identified here and defused by evidence: (1) "Everyone gets care anyhow;" (2) "We don't ration care in the United States"; (3) "The free market can resolve our problems in health care"; (4) "The U. S. health care system is basically healthy, so incremental change will address its problems;" (5) "The United States has the best health care system in the world"; and (6) "National health insurance is so unfeasible for political reasons that it should not be given serious consideration as a policy alternative." Incremental changes of the existing health care system have failed to resolve its underlying problems. Pressure is building again for system reform, which may become more feasible if a national debate can be focused on the public interest without distortion by myths and disinformation fueled by defending stakeholders.