In the recent past the impact of structural adjustment in the Indian health care sector has been felt in the reduction in central grants to States for public health and disease control programmes. This falling share of central grants has had a more pronounced impact on the poorer states, which have found it more difficult to raise local resources to compensate for this loss of revenue. With the...

OBJECTIVE To summarize the epidemiological situation of tuberculosis (TB) in Brazil, especially as it relates to the evolution of the health sector in recent decades, the process of health sector reform, and current proposals of the Brazilian Ministry of Health. METHODS A review was conducted of data from the Ministry of Health of Brazil on tuberculosis in the country over the last 20 years, ...

To the Editor: Although access to highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) in the South African public health sector is closely monitored,1 much remains unknown regarding the numbers of HIV-positive individuals receiving HAART outside the public health sector. Access to HAART in the private health sector is probably considerably better than in the public health sector, as private sector p...

Private sector providers are the most commonly consulted source of care for child illnesses in many countries, offering significant opportunities to expand the reach of essential child health services and products. Yet collaboration with private providers presents major challenges - the suitability and quality of the services they provide is often questionable and governments' capacity to regul...

Background & Aims: People`s health, life expectancy and quality of life have been affected by social determinants of health, significantly. Also, socio-economic factors may affect health expenditure, considerably. This study has evaluated the effects of socio-economic determinants on health expenditure for the low-income urban householdsin the informalsector of employment. Methods: In this stud...

BACKGROUND With an estimated adult HIV prevalence of 15%, Namibia is in need of innovative health financing strategies that can alleviate the burden on the public sector. Affordable and private health insurances were recently developed in Namibia, and they include coverage for HIV/AIDS. This article reports on the efficacy of HIV workplace surveys as a tool to increase uptake of these insurance...

BACKGROUND Severe shortages of qualified health workers and geographical imbalances in the workforce in many low-income countries require the national health sector management to closely monitor and address issues related to the distribution of health workers across various types of health facilities. This article discusses health workers' preferences for workplace and their perceptions and exp...

In today’s fast changing health care sector, decision makers are facing a growing demand for both clinical and administrative information in order to comply with legal and customer-specific requirements. Performance Management (PM) is thus becoming increasingly important to catch up with the rising informational demands. However, little is known about the PM usage in health care since the const...

Many strategic challenges impeding the success of primary health care are rooted in weak strategic inputs, including intersectoral collaboration. Some encouraging evidence from programmes, projects, and studies suggests that intersectoral collaboration is feasible and useful. The strategy has the potential to fast-track the attainment of Millenium Development Goals. However, the strategy is not...