Maternal and childhood morbidity and mortality are high in Pakistan and health disparities exist. Multivariate logistic regression analysis of the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey database 2006-07 was performed. There was an excess of 25 neonatal, 34 infant and 41 under-five deaths per 1000 live births in the poorest quintile of wealth index compared with the richest. Women in the richest...

this study was carried out to discover: 1) whether provision of medical care and social welfare affected the size of the family among laborers. 2) compare laborers family size with that of the total population of isfahan. 3) since social security receives its premium on the basis of salary rather than the number of dependents, then what is the cost of medical care for groups of single and marri...

background: availability of antiretroviral therapies has transformed aids into a manageable chronic condition and im­proved well-being among people living with hiv/aids (pha) in developed countries. in developing countries however, such transformations are yet to occur due to socio-economic, systemic and environmental constraint. this study examined the impact of social, economic, psychological...

BACKGROUND Universal access is one of the major aims in public health and social care. Services should be provided on the basis of individual needs. However, municipal autonomy and the fragmentation of services may jeopardize universal access and lead to variation between municipalities in the delivery of services. This paper aims to identify patient-level characteristics and municipality-level...

BACKGROUND Universal health coverage (UHC) is important in terms of improving access to quality health care while protecting households from the risk of catastrophic health spending and impoverishment. However, progress to UHC has been hampered by the measures to increase mandatory prepaid funds especially in low- and middle-income countries where there are large populations in the informal sec...

PURPOSE To propose a social-and-democrat health policy alternative to the current neoliberal one. CONTEXT OF CASE The general failure of neoliberal health policies in low and middle-income countries justifies the design of an alternative to bring disease control and health care back in step with ethical principles and desired outcomes. DATA SOURCES National policies, international programme...

BACKGROUND Patients with psychosocial problems may benefit from a variety of community, educational, recreational and voluntary sector resources, but GPs often under-refer to these through lack of knowledge and time. This study evaluated the acceptability and effectiveness of graduate primary care mental health workers (GPCMHWs) facilitating access to voluntary and community sector services for...

Indian health system is characterized by a vast public health infrastructure which lies underutilized, and a largely unregulated private market which caters to greater need for curative treatment. High out-of-pocket (OOP) health expenditures poses barrier to access for healthcare. Among those who get hospitalized, nearly 25% are pushed below poverty line by catastrophic impact of OOP healthcare...