PROBLEM In the 1970s, Thailand was a low-income country with poor health indicators and low health service coverage. The local health infrastructure was especially weak. APPROACH In the 1980s, measures were initiated to reduce geographical barriers to health service access, improve the health infrastructure at the district level, make essential medicines more widely available and develop a co...

After undergoing many changes, the financing of health care in countries of the former Soviet Union is now showing signs of maturing. Soon after the political transition in these countries, the development of insurance systems and fee-for-service payment systems dominated the discussions on health reform. At present there is increasing emphasis on case mix adjusted payments in larger hospitals ...

Small hospitals sit at the apex of the pyramid of primary care in the health systems of many low-income countries. If the Millennium Development Goal for child survival is to be achieved, hospital care for referred severely ill children will need to be improved considerably in parallel with primary care in many countries. Yet little is known about how to achieve this. This article describes the...

An N. Massaro, R. B. Govindan, Gilbert Vezina, Taeun Chang, Nickie N. Andescavage, Yunfei Wang, Tareq Al-Shargabi, Marina Metzler, Kari Harris, and Adre J. du Plessis Division of Neonatology, Children’s National Health System, Washington, District of Columbia; Division of Fetal and Transitional Medicine, Children’s National Health System, Washington, District of Columbia; Division of Diagnostic...

BACKGROUND Understanding the strategies that health care providers employ in order to invite men to participate in maternal health care is very vital especially in today's dynamic cultural environment. Effective utilization of such strategies is dependent on uncovering the salient issues that facilitate male participation in maternal health care. This paper examines and describes the strategies...

The purpose of this health workforce plan is to provide guidance for the staffing of the Bolikhamxay. Province health services and the training of health service personnel to the year 2020. It must be stressed, however, that this plan is in its first iteration and does not provide all the solutions. Rather, it identifies issues that need to be further investigated and resolved at the local leve...

The study examined the patterns of disclosing the HIV diagnosis to infected children and family members, and determined the demographic characteristics associated with disclosure. Semi structured interviews were conducted with caregivers of HIV infected children aged 4 17 years receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART). A total of 149 caregivers were recruited from a paediatric HIV clinic of a d...

Improving national prevention of mother-to-child (PMTCT) services in South Africa has been challenging. PMTCT outcomes were analysed at 58 primary and secondary level antenatal facilities across seven high HIV-burden sub-districts in three provinces, over an 18 month period during which new South African PMTCT clinical guidelines were implemented and a nurse quality mentor program was expanded....

BACKGROUND During the Suharto era public funding of health in Indonesia was low and the health services were tightly controlled by the central government; district health staff had practically no discretion over expenditure. Following the downfall of President Suharto there was a radical political, administrative and fiscal decentralization with delivery of services becoming the responsibility ...