achieving the millennium development goals has proven to be a real challenge. providing evidence on cost-effective interventions did not prove to be sufficient to secure the trust of national authorities, health care providers and patients. introducing change in a health system requires a good understanding of the relationships between the actors of the system. social network analysis can provi...

The location of facilities anywhere in an area in which several competing facilities already exist and serving the demand points has been brought to light in this work. Because of the great importance of health care systems in the health of the people, these systems have been studied in the present paper. Creation and maintenance of competitive advantage in health care systems requires optimizi...

In the summer of 1998, I accepted what likely has turned out to be my final professional position in medical physics. When I arrived, my health insurance cost was about $240.00 per month, covering only my spouse and myself. Today, the cost for approximately the same policy has exploded to over $900.00 per month. None of you would be surprised at this; almost everyone in the United States has se...

Many developed countries have experienced a sharp rise in income inequality during the past three decades, and the United States is no exception (1). For example, the average annual salary in America in inflation-adjusted 1998 dollars increased from $32,522 in 1970 to $35,864 in 1999, that is, a modest 10 percent increase over three decades. By contrast over the same period, the average annual ...

OBJECTIVE To demonstrate that six common errors made in attempts to change behaviour have prevented the implementation of the scientific evidence base derived from psychology and sociology; to suggest a new approach which incorporates recent developments in the behavioural sciences. STUDY DESIGN The role of health behaviours in the origin of the current epidemic of non-communicable disease is...

1. Gérvas J, Palomo L, Pastor-Sánchez R, Pérez-Fernández M, Rubio C. Problemas acuciantes en atención primaria. Aten Primaria. 2001;28:472-7. 2. Gérvas J, Pérez-Fernández M, Palomo-Cobos L, Pastor-Sánchez R. Veinte años de reforma de la atención primaria en España. Valoración para un aprendizaje por acierto/error. [Acceded 08-062007.] Madrid: Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo 2005. Available from...