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Healthcare Programmes (healthcare + programme)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	40%
Humanities and Social Sciences	40%

Selected Abstracts

Japan's never,ending social security reforms

INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY REVIEW, Issue 4 2002
Noriyuki Takayama
This paper examines implications of the 2002 population projections for future trends in pension and healthcare costs in Japan. Current redistributive pension and healthcare programmes have resulted in considerably higher per capita income for the aged than the non,aged population. Substantive reforms are needed to lessen the extent of such redistribution, but political considerations have meant that only incremental reforms have been feasible. A start, however, has been made on introducing private initiatives in pensions; and shifting from the command and control model operated by the central government to a contracting model for healthcare. [source]

Socioeconomic instability and the availability of health resources: their effects on infant mortality rates in Macau from 1957,2006

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 5-6 2010
Moon Fai Chan
Aim., To investigate the effects of socioeconomic instability and the availability of health resources on infant mortality rate. Background., In 1960, the infant mortality rate was 46·3 infants per 1000 live births in Macau but by 2006 it had declined to 2·7 infants per 1000 live births. Design., A retrospective design collecting yearly data for the Macau covering the period from 1957,2006. The infant mortality rate was the dependent variable and demographics, socioeconomic status and health resources are three main explanatory variables to determine the mortality rate. Methods., Regression modelling. Results., Results show that higher birth (Beta = 0·029, p = 0·004) and unemployment rates (Beta = ,0·120, p = 0·036) and more public expenditure on health (Beta = ,0·282, p < 0·001) were significantly more likely to reduce the infant mortality rate. Conclusions., These results indicate that the socioeconomically disadvantaged are at a significantly higher risk for infant mortality. In contrast, more public expenditure on health resources significantly reduces the risk for infant mortality. This study provides further international evidence that suggests that improving aspects of the healthcare system may be one way to compensate for the negative effects of social inequalities on health outcomes. Relevance to clinical practice., The implication of these results is that more effort, particularly during economic downturns, should be put into removing the barriers that impede access to healthcare services and increasing preventive care for the population that currently has less access to health care in communities where there is a scarcity of medical resources. In addition, efforts should be made to expand and improve the coverage of prenatal and infant healthcare programmes to alleviate regional differences in the use of health care and improve the overall health status of infants in Macau. [source]

Adverse perinatal conditions in hearing-impaired children in a developing country

PAEDIATRIC & PERINATAL EPIDEMIOLOGY, Issue 5 2006
Bolajoko O. Olusanya
Summary Prevailing adverse perinatal conditions in developing countries have been associated with substantial mortality, but little evidence exists on their impact on permanent childhood disabilities and morbidity due to limitations in clinical investigations and medical records. This study aims to identify the possible association between parent-reported adverse perinatal conditions and permanent hearing loss, in order to establish service needs within current maternal and child health programmes. Structured questionnaires were administered to 363 parents of deaf children and 309 parents of normal-hearing children in an inner city area of Lagos, Nigeria. The parents were from all social classes. After a multivariable logistic regression analysis, birth asphyxia [OR 20.45; 95% CI 6.26, 66.85], difficult delivery [OR 8.09; 95% CI 2.76, 23.68], neonatal jaundice [OR 2.45; 95% CI 1.25, 4.79] and neonatal seizures [OR 2.30; 95% CI 1.09, 4.85] were associated with permanent hearing loss. Consanguineous marriages [OR 6.69; 95% CI 2.72, 16.46] and family history of deafness [OR 6.27; 95% CI 2.07, 18.97] also emerged as additional risk factors for permanent hearing loss. In addition, parents of children in state-owned schools for the deaf were significantly more likely to belong to higher social classes compared with normal-hearing children in mainstream state-owned schools. There is a need to incorporate services for the early detection of permanent hearing loss into current maternal and child healthcare programmes in developing countries. [source]

TRIPS-Plus Intellectual Property Rules: Impact on Thailand's Public Health

THE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 5 2006
Jakkrit Kuanpoth
Thailand has proved that a well-funded, politically supported public policy could be effective in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS on a national scale. It is currently facing increased pressure to accept higher standards of intellectual property (IP) protection (the so-called Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)-plus) under bilateral free trade agreements (FTA) proposed by the United States. The proposed US FTA threatens to restrict the measures the country can take to pursue affordable drugs, and will affect the ability of Thailand to continue its successful anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment and other healthcare programmes. This article argues that the TRIPS-plus regime generates a negative impact on poor people's access to medicines, and the ARV treatment programme in Thailand is presented as an illustrative example. [source]

Welfarism Versus ,Free Enterprise': Considerations Of Power And Justice In The Philippine Healthcare System

BIOETHICS, Issue 5-6 2003
Peter A. Sy
ABSTRACT The just distribution of benefits and burdens of healthcare, at least in the contemporary Philippine context, is an issue that gravitates towards two opposing doctrines of welfarism and ,free enterprise.' Supported largely by popular opinion, welfarism maintains that social welfare and healthcare are primarily the responsibility of the government. Free enterprise (FE) doctrine, on the other hand, maintains that social welfare is basically a market function and that healthcare should be a private industry that operates under competitive conditions with minimal government control. I will examine the ethical implications of these two doctrines as they inform healthcare programmes by business and government, namely: (a) the Devolution of Health Services and (b) the Philippine Health Maintenance Organization (HMO). I will argue that these doctrines and the health programmes they inform are deficient in following respects: (1) equitable access to healthcare, (2) individual needs for premium healthcare, (3) optimal utilisation of health resources, and (4) the equitable assignment of burdens that healthcare entails. These respects, as considerations of justice, are consistent with an operational definition of ,power' proposed here as ,access to and control of resources.' [source]