The Good Start Study was a prospective cohort study of 665 HIV positive women who attended routine PMTCT services. The women and infants were followed for 36 weeks after birth with data collection during home visits every 2 weeks until 12 weeks and then monthly until 9 months. At each scheduled visit inf...
Without evidence-informed action, health-related Millennium Development
Goals as well as those of individual nations are unlikely to be achieved.
Health policies are influenced by a variety of factors – values and beliefs,
stakeholder power, institutional constraints, and donor funding flows, among
oth...
Health systems have developed at different speeds, and with differing degrees
of complexity throughout the twentieth century, reflecting the diverse political
and social conditions in each country.
Notwithstanding their diversity, all systems, however, share a common reason
for their existence, namely th...
Mental health problems account for approximately 20% of the total burden of
ill health in Europe (WHO, 2004a). This estimate of burden is just the tip of the
iceberg; what makes mental health almost unique is the broad impact it can
have on all aspects of life, including physical health, family relations...
This policy brief provides a review of current information and issues relating to cross-border health care in Europe. Following an overview of current patterns of patient mobility, the policy brief looks in turn at the legal framework for mobility, the financial implications, approaches to quality monito...
For many people, the hospital has come to
symbolize the modern health care system.
Yet in many countries, the role of the acute
hospital is changing, with an emphasis on
outpatient diagnosis and treatment as well as
alternatives to long-term hospital care, leading to reductions in numbers of hospital
bed...
In this policy brief, we will take a fresh look
at the hospital, and examine the questions
that policy-makers need to be asking about
its role in the health care system.
Although most health care takes places
outside hospitals, for most people, they have
come to symbolize the health care system.
The capa...
Hospitals are a key component of the health
care system and are central to the process of
health system reform, but as institutions they
have received remarkably little attention from
policy-makers and researchers. They have
long been regarded as “a black box”’ whose
workings are impenetrable. But ...
There has been a dramatic upsurge of
entrepreneurialism in health care systems in
Europe, spurred by interests in better
efficiency and quality. The characteristics of
entrepreneurial behaviour include seeking
opportunity, promoting innovation, and
genuine accountability. However, experience
so far indic...
Health care systems face ever changing and
often competing demands for resources. For
a health care system to be sustainable it must
be able to pay for investment in buildings
and equipment, training and remuneration
of personnel and for drugs and other consumables. How these financial resources are
gene...
