PROBLEM The Chinese central government launched the Health System Reform Plan in 2009 to strengthen disease control and health promotion and provide a package of basic public health services. Village doctors receive a modest subsidy for providing public health services associated with the package. Their beliefs about this subsidy and providing public health services could influence the quality ...

Alberta's abolition of its health regions and the creation of Alberta Health Services in 2008 has integrated previously disparate providers of healthcare services. The long-term benefits of this "second-wave" approach to health systems structuring include lower administrative costs, greater equity of access, improved intraprovincial learning and economies of scale. Some benefits have begun to b...

The aim of this paper is to gather elements for a discussion on health policies and services in northeast Brazil. The author begins with an analysis of the population's main health problems, the health system's limitations, and current opportunities for implementing health programs. She highlights the following research priorities: people's health situations according to their material living c...

Maine. The Center builds upon the Institute's strong record of research, policy analysis, and policy development that addresses critical problems in health care financing and delivery. The Maine Rural Health Research Center's mission is to inform health care policymaking and the delivery of rural health services through high quality, policy relevant research, policy analysis and technical assis...

OBJECTIVE To document the opinions of the users of the Quebec Physicians Health Program (QPHP) about the services they received. DESIGN Mailed questionnaire. SETTING Quebec. PARTICIPANTS A total of 126 physicians who used QPHP services between 1999 and 2004. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Users' overall rating of the QPHP services, their opinions about the program, and whether their situations i...

OBJECTIVES Due to recent changes in legislation on occupational health and safety, a national monitor on stress and physical load was developed in The Netherlands to monitor (a) risks and consequences of stress and physical load at work, (b) preventive actions in companies to reduce these risks, and (c) organisational and environmental variables that facilitate preventive actions. METHODS Inf...

Is happiness good for your health? This common notion is tested in a synthetic analysis of 30 follow-up studies on happiness and longevity. It appears that happiness does not predict longevity in sick populations, but that it does predict longevity among healthy populations So, happiness does not cure illness but it does protect against becoming ill. The effect of happiness on longevity in heal...

D URING THE past several years, physicians have become increasingly aware of the epidemic of obesity in the United States. The alarming increase in its prevalence, both in adults and children, has led to the development of initiatives geared to the recognition of obesity as a complex disorder of energy balance requiring long-term treatment. The change in our view of obesity from a shameful soci...

Politicians, their constituents and family physicians believe that preventive medicine is essential if health care is to be improved. Family physicians believe that the majority of their patients are well cared for with preventive health care services but in reality preventive services are provided to less than half the population and some to fewer than 10%. Barriers to providing preventive car...

Achieving universal health coverage (UHC)—defined as access to needed health services to all and protection against financial risks arising from paying for health services [1]—is among the top priorities of reform agendas across many countries. Provision of health services should be determined by individuals’ need rather than their ability to pay and, at the same time, utilization of services b...