CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE Healthcare investments should consider short and long-term demands. The objectives here were to compare the average tenures of ministers of health in Brazil and in another 22 countries and to evaluate the relationship between ministers' tenures and a number of indicators. DESIGN AND SETTING Descriptive study conducted at Centro Paulista de Economia da Saúde (CPES). MET...

the central Health Department of this country to the position it ought to occupy if he were allowed to hold office for a mere matter of three, or perhaps six, months. In face of these rapid changes not only is continuity of policy impossible, but vigour and initiative are out of the question. The fleeting incumbent of the office is fortunate if he is able to acquire a preliminary general acquai...

THE 1954 amendments to the Social Security Act, which first extended the coverage of the oldage, survivors, and disability insurance program to ministers, made coverage available to them on an individual voluntary basis. Since clergymen are the only group whose coverage is on this basis, information about their participa,tion in the program is of special interest. The experience provides a uniq...

Parliamentary democracies represent a common type of governance structure in numerous countries. While details vary from one country to another, the structure of a parliamentary democracy entails having cabinet ministers who each have a specific portfolio of policy interests, such as healthcare, industry, or education. A set of ministers forms a government, and such governments can change due t...