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New Book: Commercialization of Health Care: Global and Local Dynamics and Policy Responses
24 Oct 2005
Health care is increasingly a market sector, but the process of commercialization is widely contested. Rising international trade in health services, migration of health care personnel, liberalization and privatization of local health care markets, cash payment within the public sector, increasing involvement of multinational companies: all these aspects have been promoted by a dominant framework of thought in international health policy that favours commercialization wherever possible.
Health care commercialization poses enormous challenges for health planners and activists who aim to ensure decent health care for all. This book is the first to bring together economists and health policy and public health experts to create an integrated analysis of these different aspects of health care commercialization.
Based on original research and analysis by a group of health policy experts and economists from across the world, this book analyses the causes and consequences of the expanding global and local commercialization of health care. It argues for the necessity and possibility of effective policy responses to develop good quality, universally inclusive health systems worldwide.
The book aims to contribute to a shift in the international “common sense” in health policy toward a more humane, inclusive, egalitarian, and ethical framework for policy formulation.
Contents
Part I: Commercialization: Nature, Causes and Effects
Health Systems and Commercialization: In Search of Good Sense, M. Mackintosh and M. Koivusalo
Strategies of Multinational Health Care Companies in Europe and Asia, J. Lethbridge
Multinational Companies and Health Care in the United States and Latin America: Strategies, Actions and Effects, R. Jasso-Aguilar, H. Waitzkin and A. Landwehr
The Transnationalization of the Health Care System in Argentina, C. Iriart
The Dynamics of Commercial Health Care in the Lebanon, K. Sen and A. Mehio-Sibai
The Interactions between Social and Commercial Health Insurance after China's Entry into the World Trade Organization, Q. Sun
Commercialization in the Public Sector in India: Implications for Values and Aspirations, R.V. Baru
On Shadow Commercialization of Health Care in Russia, I. Blam and S. Kovalev
Commercialization of Health Care in Mali: Community Health Centres, Fees for Service and the Rise of Private Providers, M.K. Konaté and B. Kanté
Part II: Policy Issues and Responses
Indian Pharmaceutical Companies and Accessibility of Drugs under TRIPS, S. Chaudhuri
International Collaboration on Medical Device Regulation: Issues, Problems and Stakeholders, C. Altenstetter
Restructuring Global Health Policy Making: The Role of Global Public-Private Partnerships, E. Ollila
International Migration of Health Care Staff: Extent and Policy Responses, with Illustrations from Ghana, K. Mensah
Eliminating Economic Barriers in Health Care: The Mexico City Government’s Experience, A.C. Laurell, E. Zepeda and L. Mussot
The Political Economy of National Health Insurance in Korea, H.-j. Kwon and B. Tchoe
The Search for Cross Subsidy in Segmented Health Systems: Can Private Wards in Public Hospitals Secure Equity Gains? H. Wadee and L. Gilson
Public Expenditure Allocation and Incidence under Health Care Market Liberalization: A Tanzanian Case Study, T.M. Kida and M. Mackintosh
Maureen Mackintosh is Professor of Economics at the Open University, United Kingdom. Meri Koivusalo is Senior Researcher in the Globalism and Social Policy Programme at the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health, Finland.
Commercialization of Health Care is an UNRISD/Palgrave Macmillan copublication; hardback, ISBN 1-4039-4349-4, 344 pages, 2005, £65.
Order from: Palgrave Macmillan Publishers Limited, Brunel Road, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, United Kingdom. Phone: +44 (0) 1256 302866; Fax: +44 (0) 1256 330688; orders@palgrave.com; www.palgrave.com/order/