factors influencing cross-national diffusion of mental health policy are important to understand but complex to research. this commentary discusses shen’s research study on cross-national diffusion of mental health policy; examines the extent to which the three questions researched by shen (whether countries are more likely to have a mental health policy (a) the earlier a country becomes a memb...

there are two dominant approaches to describe and understand the anatomy of complete health and well-being systems internationally. yet, neither approach has been able to either predict or explain occasional but dramatic crises in health and well-being systems around the world and in developed emerging market or developing country contexts. as the impacts of such events can be measured not simp...

Both Senegal and Ethiopia have recently undertaken changes in the political and financial administration of government services, decentralizing decisionmaking power to local levels. In Senegal, decentralization of health service planning and implementation to the district level poses both challenges and opportunities to the financing, treatment, and prevention of HIV. The positive consequences ...

results the findings of this study showed that in most selected countries, primary care services were provided by the private sector and the public sector has been mostly functioning as a supervisor in this area, but in iran, primary care services were provided by the government. the findings of this study also showed that hospital services in iran and selected countries (second and third level...

For decades, discussions on human resources in health have ended with a ritual call for more and better manpower planning. But this traditional wisdom has been discredited by unrealistic or vague targets, based all too often on information that was inaccurate, outdated and unrelated to the policy agenda. Nevertheless, in as labourintensive a domain as delivering health care, reform does entail ...

the article by brenna and spandonaro on interregional mobility for acute hospital care in italy raises important issues concerning social and territorial equity in a healthcare system. based on regions and private providers’ strategic behavior, the hypothesis adopted to explain patient cross-border mobility (cbm), demonstrated by statistical analysis, may be further explored using qualitative m...

In Lao PDR, lack of skilled manpower and financial resources in the central government, plus the policy urging local authorities to be self-sufficient and self-reliant caused the central government to decentralize all sectors to the provincial level in 1987. After 1987, the provinces took over all responsibilities such as planning, financing and provision of health services, only informing the ...