BACKGROUND Health Canada has defined rare diseases as life-threatening, seriously debilitating, or serious chronic conditions affecting a very small number of patients (~1 in 2,000 persons). An estimated 9 % of Canadians suffer from a rare disease. Drugs treating rare diseases (DRDs) are also known as orphan drugs. While Canada is currently developing an orphan drug framework, in the United Sta...

This paper investigates the association between different kinds of budgetary expenditure and economic growth of Poland. The empirical analysis makes use of linear and nonlinear Granger causality tests to evaluate the applicability of Wagner’s Law and that of the contrasting Keynesian theory. We employ aggregate and disaggregate data with the sub-categories of most important budgetary expenditur...

The overuse and misuse of antimicrobials contribute to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The aim of this work was to analyse all the anti-infectives for systemic use (J ATC group) prescribed at the University Clinic Hospital of Valladolid (Spain) for the years 2009-2013. Amounts of anti-infectives (antibacterials, antifungals and antivirals) used in the period 2009-2013 were expre...

BACKGROUND A growing number of developing countries are developing health insurance schemes that aim to protect households, particularly the poor, from financial catastrophe and impoverishment caused by unaffordable medical care. This paper investigates the extent to which patients suffering from chronic disease in rural China face catastrophic expenditure on healthcare, and how far the New Co-...

INTRODUCTION Alcohol use and alcohol-related problems are on the rise in low- and middle-income countries. Expenditure on alcohol is an important problem for families and communities and needs to be assessed. AIM This study examines level of alcohol consumption and expenditure on alcohol in a district in Vietnam. METHODS A cross-sectional survey was conducted in a rural district in northern...

OBJECTIVE To present the available data on the money spent by Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) on remunerating health workers in the public and private sectors. METHODS Data on government and total expenditure on health worker remuneration were obtained through a review of official documents in WHO's Global Health Expenditure Database and directly from country officials an...

BACKGROUND Out of pocket (OOP) health spending can potentially expose households to risk of incurring large medical bills, and this may impact on their welfare. This work investigates the effect of catastrophic OOP on the incidence and depth of poverty in Malawi. METHODS The paper is based on data that was collected from 12,271 households that were interviewed during the third Malawi integrat...

Central oxytocin reduces food intake and increases energy expenditure. The ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMN) is associated with energy balance and contains a high density of oxytocin receptors. We hypothesized that oxytocin in the VMN is a negative regulator of energy balance acting to reduce feeding and increase energy expenditure. To test this idea, oxytocin or vehicle was injected dire...

Background Access to appropriate and affordable healthcare is needed to achieve better health outcomes in Africa. However, access to healthcare remains low, especially among the poor. In Zambia, poor access exists despite the policy by the government to remove user fees in all primary healthcare facilities in the public sector. The paper has two main objectives: (i) to examine the factors assoc...

Background In planning for universal health coverage, many countries have been examining their fiscal decentralization policies with the goal of increasing efficiency and equity via “additionalities.” The concept of “additionality,” when the government of a lower administrative level increases the funding allocated to a particular issue when extra funds are present, is often used in these...