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...

Korea recently introduced three major health care reforms: in financing (1999), pharmaceuticals (2000), and provider payment (2001). In these three reforms, new government policies merged more than 350 health insurance societies into a single payer, separated drug prescribing by physicians from dispensing by pharmacists, and attempted to introduce a new prospective payment system. This essay co...

This expert meeting on implementation of health system transformation took place in Madrid, Spain, 17–18 December 2015 with the following specific aims: ʆ To identify lessons learnt in the implementation of health system reforms at policy level which could serve as an evidence base ʆ To provide advice to health system policy-makers on how to initiate reforms and/or how to accelerate or improve ...

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...

In 1999 the Victorian primary care and community support system began a process of substantial reform, involving purchasing reforms and a contested selection process between providers in large catchment areas across the State. The Liberal Government's electoral defeat in September 1999 led to a review of these reforms. This paper questions the reforms from a rural perspective. They were based o...

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...