Reforms in the Health Care Systems

Forces and Reactions in the Health Care, Lethbridge, Jane, PSIRU (2003)

The report aims at drawing an overview of the key global trends in the health sector. It does so by elaborating on some main objectives as: identification of overall trends in public healthcare services including privatisation and corporatisation of healthcare, highlighting regional developments, identifying key players in global healthcare, presenting key companies and major activities, outlining good practice in union action factors influencing trade union campaigns against privatisation.

Public Service Reform and their Impact on Health Sector Personnel, PSI, ILO, WHO, ICN, DSE (2000)

This booklet has been prepared to assist policy makers in international organisations, governments and civil society to design, introduce and implement public service and health sector reforms in the most effective and sustainable way, taking into account human resource policies.

Corrosive Reforms: Failing Health Systems in Eastern Europe, ILO and PSI

The study is a first step in making an evaluation of the impact of the transition process on health care workers in the region. It emphasizes the importance of active social dialogue in the process of strategic planning as well as in regulating legislation, pay bargaining and health and safety legislation.

Labour Rights and Health Care Privatisation in the Americas, PSI, IDB, World Bank

The paper is composed of four case studies from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Trinidad and Tobago and Belize on the reforms imposed by International Financial Institutions in the respective countries. The case studies represent the efforts of PSI affiliates in Central America and the Caribbean to address these questions by examining IFI projects designed to restructure health care in the region.

The Pains of Privatisation, Jane Stinson, Nancy Pollak and Marcy Cohen

A very interesting research, bringing the case of British Columbia, which since 2003 has witnessed privatisation of health support services, with thousands of jobs eliminated and contracted out. Through investigations from direct experiences study concludes that conditions of work for these privatized workers are unacceptably harsh. It raises at the same time important questions as: What does a society give up - and take on - when cleaning, laundry, food, and security services in health care facilities are outsourced to transnational corporations? What are the implications for the individual workers and their families? Are there hidden costs for patients, workers, and communities? If so, what are these costs, and where and how are they likely to surface?

Equity and Health Sector Reforms: Can Low Income Countries escape the medical Poverty Trap, Whitehead, M. Dahlgren, G. Evans, T. (2001)

The paper discusses two of the trends in market-oriented health-sector reforms pushed forward from the international institutions, namely: the introduction of user fees for public services and the growth of out-of-pocket expenses for private services leading many families to a medical poverty trap. In analyzing this situation it proposes some possible actions to escape the medical poverty trap.

Public Sector Reform and Demand for Human Resources for Health, Lethbridge, Jane (2004)

This article considers some of the effects of health sector reform on human resources for health (HRH) in developing countries and countries in transition by examining the effect of fiscal reform and the introduction of decentralisation and market mechanisms to the health sector. The increase in private sector provision has led health workers to move to the private sector. For those remaining in the public sector, there are often worsening working conditions, a lack of employment security and dismantling of collective bargaining agreements.

A systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Studies comparing Mortality Rates of private for-profit and private not-for-profit Hospitals, Devereaux, P.J.

It brings a very interesting insight in the debate on the relative merits of private for-profit versus private not-for-profit health care delivery. It has a Canadian perspective, but it provides important areas for analysis if trade unions of a country would decide to challenge the private sector myth.

Health Reforms and Restructuring

A webpage of Public Services International (PSI) on reforms in the health care systems, their impact on workers and quality health service. It brings an important insight on the issues related to health care reforms and different forms of private sector penetration in public health, including public-private partnerships.

Health and Human Rights – An International Journal of Harvard School of Public Health

Health and Human Rights is an international journal dedicated to scholarship and praxis that advance health as an issue of fundamental human rights and social justice. It seeks to provide a forum for academics, practitioners, and activists from public health, human rights, and related fields to explore how rights-based approaches to health can be implemented in practice. In so doing, it contributes to fostering a global movement for health and human rights.

Human Rights in Healthcare - A Framework for Local Action

Department of Health, 2008. This booklet introduces human rights and explains why they are relevant to health care. Department of Health, the British Institute of Human Rights and 5 NHS Trusts have worked in conjunction to produce this framework to assist NHS trusts to develop and apply human rights based approaches (HRBAs) in their organisations to improve service design and delivery. The intended audience is primarily ‘frontline’ staff, including clinicians and support and administrative staff. It is also a useful introduction for directors, board members, managers and policy staff.

Health Systems and the Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health

Paul Hunt and Gunilla Backman, 2008. This article outlines the general approach of the right to the highest attainable standard of health toward the strengthening of health systems. It identifies some of the key right-to-health features of a health system, such as transparency, participation, equity and equality, a comprehensive national health plan, a minimum "basket" of health-related services and facilities, disaggregated data, monitoring and accountability, and so on.

A Human Rights Approach to Quality of Life and Health: Applications to Public Health Programming

Armando De Negri Filho, 2008. Building on experiences in Latin America, this article discusses lessons learned for achieving policies and health systems that contribute to building democracy into a system that guarantees social justice. Drawing on work in Latin American Social Medicine, it specifically proposes new ways of thinking about social fragility (instead of risks) and developing inter-sectoral programming to improve care, as well as to reduce inequalities among population groups. The article argues that a right-based approach can be a concrete tool for restructuring both public policies and action.

Third Sector Provision of Local Government and Health Services

Steve Davies, UNISON, 2007.