Fighting the Diseases of PovertyPhilip Stevens Transaction Publishers, 2011 M12 31 - 324 páginas Public discussion of global healthcare issues is dominated by those who believe that top-down, government-driven interventions are the solution to the myriad health problems suffered by people in less developed countries. This thinking is responsible for a plethora of harmful policies, ranging from a drive towards socialized healthcare systems, to calls for the centralization and semi-nationalization of pharmaceutical research and development, to impractical but grandiose UN-sponsored schemes for tackling HIV/AIDS and malaria. In spite of the abysmal track record of top-down approaches, non-governmental organizations and UN agencies continue to promote them, to the detriment of the private sector, economic development, and human health. The resulting politicization of diseases such as HIV/AIDS has led to a diversion of resources away from more easily treatable diseases that affect more people. Meanwhile, cost-effective and simple interventions such as vaccination are being subordinated to other more politically correct diseases. This centralizing mindset has also resulted in many governments in less developed countries attempting to plan and control universal healthcare systems, which has encouraged rationing, inequitable access, and entrenched corruption. It has also seriously undermined the effectiveness of overseas development aid. Moreover, the politicization of diseases such as HIV/AIDS has led to a diversion of resources away from more easily treatable diseases that affect more people. As a result, cost-effective and simple interventions are neglected by donors. There has to date been little public discussion of the role of markets and their underlying institutions--property rights and the rule of law--in improving human health. Economic growth and globalization has led to unprecedented improvements in human health. The challenge is to enable the poorest countries to take part more fully in this process. This work demonstrates how current thinking is flawed and proposes practical ways of improving health in lower income countries. |
Contenido
| 1 | |
Chapter 2 | 36 |
Chapter 3 | 63 |
Chapter 4 | 126 |
Chapter 5 | 141 |
Chapter 6 | 185 |
Chapter 7 | 203 |
Chapter 8 | 214 |
Chapter 9 | 239 |
Notes | 265 |
Sources | 276 |
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Términos y frases comunes
absenteeism accountability activities Artemisinin average Bangladesh benefits Bolivia cent clinics communicable disease companies corruption costs coun counterfeit medicines coverage declined developing countries diseases of poverty drugs economic growth effective ensure essential medicines estimated Figure funds GDP per capita global Goklany health care health services health system HIV/AIDS hospitals human immunization impact improved incentives increase India infant mortality informal payments innovation Institute intellectual property International International dollars investment less lower-income countries malaria measles medical schemes ment million Mother Teresa National Health Nigeria officials organisations oversight patients pharmaceutical poor countries poorer poorest population prevention price controls private health private health-care problems production public health rates reduce regulation result shows smallpox South Africa staff Sub-Saharan Africa surveys tion Transparency International treatment Uganda vaccine Washington D.C. World Bank World Bank 2005b World Health World Health Organisation
Pasajes populares
Página 1 - If present trends continue, the world in 2000 will be more crowded, more polluted, less stable ecologically, and more vulnerable to disruption than the world we live in now.
Página 265 - Purchasing power parity (PPP) conversion factor is the number of units of a country's currency required to buy the same amount of goods and services in the domestic market as a US dollar would buy in the United States.
Página 25 - Nearly 30 years ago the Pearson Commission began its report with the recognition that, "the widening gap between the developed and developing countries has become the central problem of our times.
Página 22 - The collapse of the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, the unification of Germany, and the obsolescence of the European security alliances have raised the possibility of a further enlargement and "widening
Página 69 - Institute, rank seven aspects of governance: voice and accountability, political stability, absence of violence, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption.
Página 275 - Gordon Tullock, The Politics of Bureaucracy (Washington: Public Affairs Press, 1965), and Olson, op.