Health policy is a central preoccupation of many, if not all, developing
countries. This innovative book presents a selection of ten studies illustrating that
carefully conducted research can address common health policy issues.
The studies included in this book exemplify the major gains to patients and
citizens that can accrue from research efforts, stimulating research capacity in
developing countries. Although many of the challenges confronting health systems are
universal, it is often the case that research results derived from developed countries can
be misleading when applied to low or middle-income settings. The authors also demonstrate
the best examples of successful research on health policies and systems from diverse
countries such as Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chile, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru,
Sri Lanka and Taiwan.
This insightful book will be a valuable research tool for academics, researchers and
policymakers in economics and health. International agencies interested in applied
research in health policy and economics will also find it a stimulating read.
Edited by Diana Pinto Masís, Associate Professor, Pontificia
Universidad Javeriana School of Medicine and Associate Researcher, Fedesarrollo, Bogotá,
Colombia and Peter C. Smith, Professor of Health Policy, Imperial College
Business School and Institute for Global Health, London, UK
Contents:
Foreword
Lyn Squire
Introduction: Health System Performance, Finance and Design
Diana Pinto Masís and Peter C. Smith
PART I: HEALTH SYSTEM PERFORMANCE
1. Productivity Change in Health Services in Developing Countries: Some Empirical
Estimates
Ravindra P. Rannan-Eliya
2. Health Sector Outcomes in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka: A Tale of Two Countries
Aparnaa Somanathan, Ravindra P. Rannan-Eliya and Tahmina Begum
PART II: HEALTH SYSTEM FINANCING
3. Preventing Impoverishment, Promoting Equity and Protecting Households from
Financial Crisis: Universal Health Insurance through Institutional Reform in Mexico
Felicia Marie Knaul, Héctor Arreola-Ornelas, Oscar Méndez-Carniado and Martha
Miranda-Munoz
4. Community Prepayment of Health Care and the Willingness to Pay: Evidence of
Rural Households in the Central Cameroon
Joachim Nyemeck Binam, Diarra Ibrahim and Valere Nkelzok
5. Risk Segmentation, Moral Hazard and Equity in Chile’s Mandatory Health
Insurance System
Claudio Sapelli
PART III: HEALTH SYSTEM DESIGN
6. The Impact of Public Health Insurance on Access and Equity: Peru’s Mother and
Infant Insurance Program
Miguel Jaramillo
7. Getting to the Heart of the Matter: Hospital Competition and Cardiac Patients
in Taiwan
Hsien-Ming Lien, Shin-Yi Chou, Jin-Tan Liu and Jason Hockenberry
8. Water for Life: The Impact of the Privatization of Water Services on Child
Mortality
Sebastian Galiani, Paul Gertler and Ernesto Schargrodsky
PART IV: HIV/AIDS IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD
9. Antenatal Clinics, Patients and HIV Prevalence in Cambodia
Vonthanak Saphonn, Leng Bun Hor, Sun Penh Ly and Samrith Chhuon
10. Rural Household Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and Economic Efficiency in Southern
Nigeria
A.S. Oyekale
Index
392 pages, Hardcover