Today rural sector reform is a paramount issue in Indonesian development. Yet, different social actors have different perspectives and stances towards it. Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) in Indonesia have established themselves in pivotal positions in the social, economic and political landscape across the country, and a large number of their works has often been connected with development ...

The incidence of post-operative wound infections in Belize in 1986 and 1987 was studied. Both military practice in the military hospital and civilian practice in the rural hospitals of the local towns were included. Despite previous misgivings and sub-optimal conditions in the rural hospitals an acceptably low incidence was found in both areas of work.

People living in rural and remote communities often have among the greatest health needs but the most limited access to healthcare services, including specialist care. One solution for increasing access to specialist services is visiting-specialist services or specialist outreach clinics - that is, planned, regular visits by specialist physicians from their usual practice location to see patien...

This article summarizes the perspectives gained in the course of evaluating a 4-year demonstration program that supported rural hospital networks as mechanisms for improving rural health care delivery. Findings include: (1) joining a network is a popular, low-cost strategic response for rural hospitals in an uncertain environment; (2) rural hospital network survival is enhanced by the mutual re...

INTRODUCTION Improved HIV outcomes as a result of expanded antiretroviral therapy (ART) access is threatened by increasing rates of loss to follow up (LTFU) among those on ART, largely reported in urban populations. Some reports suggest that LTFU rates are overestimated due to patient movement to other facilities and inadequate medical records. STUDY OBJECTIVE To define the proportion disenga...

The authors would like to acknowledge the role of the Central Statistics Office in data collection and entry. Margaret Beaver provided substantial contributions to the training of enumerators and data entry personnel. Patricia Johannes provided valuable formatting and editing assistance. The authors acknowledge financial support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID...

BACKGROUND In Thailand, the inequitable distribution of doctors between rural and urban areas has a major impact on access to care for those living in rural communities. The rural medical education programme 'Collaborative Project to Increase Rural Doctors (CPIRD)' was implemented in 1994 with the aim of attracting and retaining rural doctors. This study examined the impact of CPIRD in relation...

This article is a comparison of the characteristics of hospitals serving the general population and Medicaid recipients in California and Michigan, using data from Medicaid uniform claims files and the American Hospital Association Annual Survey for 1984. A greater concentration of discharges in a small number of "high Medicaid volume" urban and rural hospitals in each State was observed for Me...

Research suggests that there is some confusion among quality improvement managers about the differences between quality management and traditional quality assurance. This lack of understanding would appear to be the same among rural and urban health staff, although there is a higher percentage of staff engaged in multidisciplinary activities in the rural health services. Education of staff and ...