RESUMEN

For decades, global health actors have centered technology in their interventions. Today, artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as the latest technology-based solution in global health. Yet, AI, like other technological interventions, is not a comprehensive solution to the fundamental determinants of global health inequities. This article gathers and critically appraises grey and peer-reviewed literature on AI in global health to explore the question: What is avoided when global health prioritizes technological solutions to problems with deep-seated political, economic, and commercial determinants? Our literature search and selection yielded 34 documents, which we analyzed to develop seven areas where AI both continues and disrupts past legacies of technological interventions in global health, with significant implications for health equity and human rights. By focusing on the power dynamics that underpin AI's expansion in global health, we situate it as the latest in a long line of technological interventions that avoids addressing the fundamental determinants of health inequities, albeit at times differently than its technology-based predecessors. We call this phenomenon the 'politics of avoidance.' We conclude with reflections on how the literature we reviewed engages with and recognizes the politics of avoidance and with suggestions for future research, practice, and advocacy.

RESUMEN

Background: A notable shift in healthcare policy is healthcare privatization, which refers to the transfer of ownership, management, or provision of healthcare services from the public sector to private entities. Objectives: To provide a narrative examination of the impact of privatization on various dimensions of healthcare, including quality, equity, accessibility, and cost-effectiveness. Policymakers can utilize the findings of this study to make well-informed decisions regarding privatization strategies. Materials and Methods: A systematic review was implemented using the following databases: PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Studies conducted from January 2000 to January 2023 in developing or developed countries that assessed the impact of healthcare privatization on population health within public sector institutions were included. Results: Eleven studies were included. The findings revealed diverse perspectives on the impact of healthcare privatization, with four studies (36.4%) supporting privatization (two of these were conducted in Saudi Arabia), six studies (54.5%) opposing it (three of these were conducted in European countries), and one study (9.1%) taking a neutral stance. Two studies investigated the impact on healthcare quality, and both revealed that privatization negatively impacts uninsured patients and low-income populations. In addition, five studies investigated the healthcare access and equity dimensions following privatization: one was in favor, one was neutral, and three were opposing it. Four studies investigated the cost-effectiveness dimension, with three in favor and one study opposing it. Conclusion: This review highlights different perspectives on healthcare privatization. While studies, as those from Saudi Arabia, suggest benefits in terms of efficiency and innovation, others, particularly from European countries, emphasize negative consequences such as inequity and reduced quality. This emphasizes the need for more investigations to understand privatization's impact on healthcare.

RESUMEN

Objectives: To explore and understand KSA's fundamental healthcare system reform, the potential changes and challenges, and their impacts on major stakeholders. Methodology: To gain in-depth insights into healthcare leaders' perspectives regarding healthcare system reform in KSA, a qualitative research approach was used. Ten participants from diverse backgrounds were selected, representing various sectors in KSA: private, public, executive, consulting, and regulatory. This study was conducted between august 2022 and June 2023. Findings: The findings revealed four key themes that shed light on healthcare system transformation in KSA and its effects: healthcare system reform, the impact of corporatization/privatization on healthcare providers, the impact of corporatization/privatization on health insurance, and the impact of corporatization/privatization on the workforce. Furthermore, the findings indicated that the ongoing transformation of the public sector toward privatization in KSA faces various challenges that affect most, if not all, stakeholders in the sector. However, the private sector possesses several strengths that can aid in addressing the challenges associated with the rapid transformation of the system. These strengths include familiarity with the market, robust financial management, extensive experience in coding and billing payers and insurance companies, efficient decision-making processes, flexibility, and maturity. Conclusion: The study facilitated comprehensive insights into the transformation of KSA's healthcare system and the public sector's shift toward corporatization/privatization. The sector must enhance its capabilities by establishing specialized units and recruiting talent. Further studies are also needed to gain a deeper understanding of the obstacles hindering the transformation.

RESUMEN

CONTEXT: The extent to which health care reforms affect health remains understudied. Health care reforms result in policy outputs that determine provision of medical services, which have consequences for the health of the population. The authors scrutinize this relationship between health policy outputs and population health by focusing on legislative changes implying privatization of health care delivery and finance. They ask the following question: What is the relationship between reforms that privatize health care provision and population health in terms of health outcomes and inequalities? METHODS: They answer this question by relying on fixed-effects time-series cross-section models. The authors use an original dataset of health care reforms passed in 36 European countries from 1989 to 2019. Health outcomes are operationalized with measures of subjective health status, unmet health needs, and resulting health inequalities. FINDINGS: Their results show that privatization of health care is associated with higher rates of bad subjective health and unmet health needs several years after the passing of reforms. These effects are stronger for individuals in the lower tiers of income and education, resulting in greater socioeconomic inequalities. CONCLUSIONS: The article contributes to conceptualization of the political determinants of health as health policy outputs and a better understanding of the relationship between policy outputs and population health outcomes.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Grassland property rights privatization has alleviated the problem of 'the tragedy of the commons' but led to an unintended ecological consequence-traditional nomadic modes declination. However, with the grassland rental market formation in countries with property rights privatization, grassland rental has reshaped the pattern of grassland allocation and provided opportunities for herders to optimize their grazing modes. Based on the survey data of herders in northern China, we theoretically analyze and empirically test grassland rental's impact on herders' rotational grazing behavior under the household responsibility system. The results show that grassland rental promotes herders' rotational grazing, and the probability of individual rotational grazing is increased by 58.27%. By increasing the operated grazing grassland area and the number of grassland plots fenced, grassland rental promotes herders' grassland endowment match with the large-scale livestock activity space and the number of grazing blocks required for rotational grazing, reduces the input cost and operation difficulty required for rotational grazing, and increase herders rotational grazing probability. Grassland rental's impact on herder's rotational grazing is heterogeneous, showing the dependence of the number of plots fenced and the scale of grazing grassland. It has a higher promotion effect on herders with more plots fenced; It cannot promote the generation of herders' rotational grazing behavior when the rented grassland area fails to make the grassland operation scale reach the minimum threshold of rotational grazing. The study emphasizes the importance of developing a grassland rental market to promote the optimization of grazing modes in grassland privatization countries.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Resumo No Brasil, há mais de três décadas, o ensino superior em Enfermagem está subordinado a um intensivo processo de privatização. Esse artigo caracteriza essa expansão no estado de Pernambuco e analisa as consequências desse processo para a integração ensino-serviço. O estudo é descritivo e exploratório, tipo estudo de caso, com utilização de técnicas combinando abordagens de pesquisa quantitativa e qualitativa. Os resultados demonstram que o estado segue a tendência nacional ao priorizar a expansão do setor privado que em 2018 já detinha 94% do total das vagas. Apontam, ainda, para uma incipiente regulação pública sobre a autorização da abertura dos cursos de Enfermagem, a qual deveria estar adequada à capacidade da rede de Atenção Primária à Saúde, do que vem resultando intensa disputa entre Instituições de Ensino Superior públicas e privadas pela ocupação dos campos de prática. A ausência de diálogo e de planejamento integrado entre os setores da saúde e da educação e a falta de decisão política para a implementação de Contratos Organizativos de Ação Pública Ensino-Saúde, se associam em um efeito que corrói por dentro a necessária interinstitucionalidade proclamada pelas diretrizes da integração ensino-serviço.

Abstract In Brazil, for more than three decades, higher education in Nursing has been subject to an intensive privatization process. This article analyzes the expansion of undergraduate nursing courses in the state of Pernambuco and the consequences of privatization for the teaching-service integration. It is a descriptive-exploratory case study that uses techniques which combine quantitative and qualitative research approaches. The findings show that the state follows the national trend by prioritizing the expansion of the private sector which in 2018 already held 94% of all vacancies. They also point to an incipient public regulation regarding authorization for the opening of nursing courses that should be adjusted to the capacity of the Primary Health Care network. This has resulted in an intense dispute between public and private Higher Education Institutions for training opportunities. The absence of dialogue and integrated planning between the health and education sectors, and the lack of political resolve to implement Organizational Contracts for Public Action in the Teaching-Health context, together produce an effect that corrodes from within the necessary interinstitutional cooperation proclaimed by the teaching-services integration guidelines.

RESUMEN

RESUMO: O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar a trajetória das legislações relativas ao ensino superior no Brasil e suas contribuições para o processo de privatização do ensino, além de descrever os principais grupos empresariais no ramo da educação superior no país. Para isso, realizou-se um estudo exploratório de análise documental das legislações e documentos disponíveis on-line, publicados entre 1961 e 2023. Desde a década de 1960, editou-se um conjunto de 29 atos normativos (leis, projetos de leis, decretos, portarias e medidas provisórias) referentes à educação. Ao longo dos anos, todos os governos brasileiros implementaram atos que favoreceram o processo de privatização e o surgimento de grandes conglomerados econômicos de ensino. A intensa privatização do ensino superior se relaciona intimamente com a trajetória dos instrumentos normativos editados por diferentes governos. As legislações moldaram o sistema educacional do país e permitiram a flexibilização dos processos de criação e expansão de instituições, cursos e vagas. Por conseguinte, surgiram grandes grupos empresariais no ramo da educação, detentores de crescentes capitais financeiros que atuam em todas as áreas de formação e, em alguns casos, até se especializando na educação em saúde.

ABSTRACT: The objective of this study was to analyze the trajectory of legislation related to higher education in Brazil and its contributions to the privatization of education, in addition to describing the leading business groups in the field of higher education in the country. For this, an exploratory study of documentary analysis of the legislation and online documents was carried out and published between 1961 and 2023. Since the 1960s, a set of 29 normative acts (laws, bills, decrees, ordinances and provisional measures) related to education have been issued. Over the years, all Brazilian governments have implemented acts that favored the privatization process and the emergence of large economic education conglomerates. The intense privatization of higher education is closely related to the trajectory of normative instruments issued by different governments. Legislation shaped the country's educational system and allowed the flexibility of the processes of creation and expansion of institutions, courses and vacancies. Therefore, large business groups have emerged in the field of education, with growing financial capital working in all areas of training and, in some cases, even specializing in health education.

RESUMEN: El objetivo de este estudio fue analizar la historia de la legislación sobre educación superior en Brasil y sus contribuciones al proceso de privatización de la educación, así como describir los principales grupos empresariales en el ámbito de la educación superior en el país. Para ello, se realizó un estudio de carácter exploratorio con el análisis documental de la legislación y los documentos disponibles en línea, publicados entre 1961 y 2023. Desde la década de 1960, se han promulgado una serie de 29 actos normativos (leyes, proyectos de ley, decretos, ordenanzas y medidas provisorias) relativos a la educación. A lo largo de los años, los gobiernos brasileños han implementado medidas que han favorecido el proceso de privatización y el surgimiento de grandes conglomerados económicos de la educación. La intensa privatización de la enseñanza superior está estrechamente relacionada con los instrumentos normativos dictados por los diferentes gobiernos. La legislación ha moldeado el sistema educativo del país y ha permitido flexibilizar los procesos de creación y ampliación de instituciones, cursos y puestos. El resultado ha sido la aparición de grandes grupos empresariales en el campo de la educación, con un capital financiero creciente, que operan en todos los ámbitos de la formación y, en algunos casos, incluso se especializan en la educación sanitaria.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

OBJECTIVES: Public healthcare data have become crucial to the advancement of medicine, and recent changes in legal structure on privacy protection have expanded access to these data with pseudonymization. Recent debates on public healthcare data use by private insurance companies have shown large discrepancies in perceptions among the general public, healthcare professionals, private companies, and lawmakers. This study examined public attitudes toward the secondary use of public data, focusing on differences between public and private entities. METHODS: An online survey was conducted from January 11 to 24, 2022, involving a random sample of adults between 19 and 65 of age in 17 provinces, guided by the August 2021 census. RESULTS: The final survey analysis included 1,370 participants. Most participants were aware of health data collection (72.5%) and recent changes in legal structures (61.4%) but were reluctant to share their pseudonymized raw data (51.8%). Overall, they were favorable toward data use by public agencies but disfavored use by private entities, notably marketing and private insurance companies. Concerns were frequently noted regarding commercial use of data and data breaches. Among the respondents, 50.9% were negative about the use of public healthcare data by private insurance companies, 22.9% favored this use, and 1.9% were "very positive." CONCLUSIONS: This survey revealed a low understanding among key stakeholders regarding digital health data use, which is hindering the realization of the full potential of public healthcare data. This survey provides a basis for future policy developments and advocacy for the secondary use of health data.

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: In January 2010, the choice reform was instituted in Swedish primary health care establishing free entry for private primary health care providers and enabling patients to choose freely among primary health care centers. The motivation behind the reform was to improve access to primary care and responsiveness to patient expectations. Reform effects on health care utilization have previously been investigated by using subgroup analyses assuming a pattern of homogeneous subgroups of the population. By using a different methodological approach, the aim of this study was to, from an equity perspective, investigate long term trends of primary health care utilization following the choice reform. METHOD: A closed cohort was created based on register data from Region Skåne, the third most populated region in Sweden, describing individuals' health care utilization between 2007-2017. Using a novel approach, utilization data, measured as primary health care visits, was matched with socioeconomic and geographic determinants, and analyzed using logistic regression models. RESULTS: A total of 659,298 individuals were included in the cohort. Sex differences in utilization were recorded to decrease in the older age group and to increase in the younger age group. Multivariable logistic regression showed increasing utilization in older men to be associated with higher socioeconomic position, while in women it was associated with lower socioeconomic position. Furthermore, groups of becoming high utilizers were all associated with lower socioeconomic position and with residence in urban areas. CONCLUSION: The impact of demographic, socioeconomic and geographic determinants on primary health care utilization varies in magnitude and direction between groups of the population. As a result, the increase in utilization as observed in the general population following the choice reform is unevenly distributed between different population groups.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Market-driven health care reforms and development strategies continue to drive the privatization of health care services across the world. When these measures are implemented, large disparities emerge and are maintained. Using a modified version of the access to care framework developed by Penchansky and Thomas, this paper examines the manifestations of inequity between private for-profit and public emergency care in the Greater Cairo Region and Asyut, Egypt. In-depth interviews with physicians working in both sectors reveals stark disparities in access between these two health care sectors in Egypt. Access issues identified include unaffordable care in the private sector, unavailable medical supplies and overcrowding in public hospitals, as well as a salary gap that drives health care workers from public to private practice, creating staffing shortages in public hospitals. The manifestations of these inequities are often severe, usually tangible, and according to health care providers, embodied in the experiences of service users.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

This is a short commentary to accompany the article "Hospital Workers: Class Conflicts in the Making" by Barbara Ehrenreich and John H. Ehrenreich. The article was originally published in the International Journal of Health Services in 1975. We are revisiting it in the current issue of the International Journal of Social Determinants of Health and Health Services due to its continued relevance and significance in the twenty-first Century.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the mobilization of all available health care resources, including private, for-profit ones. The aim of this multiple methods study (combination of document and secondary data analysis) was to assess government regulations facilitating the private health sector's participation in the COVID-19 response in Greece. During the pandemic, the government made three successive increases in private providers' reimbursement fees, provided additional financial incentives to private providers, and allocated €280 million of emergency funding for the private sector's involvement in the national COVID-19 response. In response, private hospitals made available on average 2.2% of their total bed capacity per epidemic wave for the treatment of COVID-19 patients and 1.7% of their total bed capacity for the treatment of non-COVID-19 patients transferred from National Health System (NHS) hospitals. In 2020 the five largest health care corporate groups maintained their revenues, while in 2021 they increased them by 18.7%-a striking comparison with the 9% recession experienced by the Greek economy in 2020 and its 8.4% recovery in 2021. In a time of an acute public health crisis, private health care providers responded to society's pressing health care needs by insulating their facilities from COVID-19 patients and NHS patient transfers, minimizing their social contribution and safeguarding their revenues and profits.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

This study aimed to assess the perceptions of staff working at the University of Jeddah (UJ) Medical Center on the possibility of finding new financing methods for the administration and privatization of the primary and specialized medical care services it provides. A questionnaire link was sent online targeting all staff at the UJ Medical Center (n = 141). The questionnaire comprised 17 items under the following sections: demographic information, staff perceptions about the current status of the services provided by the UJ Medical Center and the possibility of finding new financing methods and additional sources of revenue for the administration. Of the 101 questionnaires returned, the majority were filled by males (n = 71; 70.3%). One-third of the participants (n = 39; 38.6%) have between 5 and 9 years of working experience in Medical Administration, and most of them (n = 42; 41.6%) reported that they have a background in the concept of revenue development/privatization/self-resources/paid treatment. Most were satisfied with the current status of the services provided (average rating = 3.39/5). However, most participants (n = 72; 71.3%) reported that the UJ Medical Center is not ready for the Revenue Development Project of privatization. The survey respondents demonstrated satisfaction with the medical services provided by the UJ Medical Center and the potential application of the Revenue Development Project. However, streamlining the privatization process according to the governmental structures is crucial for it to be implemented properly at the UJ Medical Center.

RESUMEN

Resumo Este trabalho aborda os desafios contemporâneos do setor de saneamento básico brasileiro. As características de rentabilidade e dinamismo setorial puseram os serviços estatais de A & E no foco da agenda das reformas estruturais sob o argumento de que os governos não dispõem de recursos necessários para universalizar a cobertura. A agenda da reforma dos serviços de A & E advoga a concessão a empresas privadas da comercialização do abastecimento de água e do tratamento do esgotamento sanitário. Em convergência com esta agenda de reforma estrutural, a aprovação em 15 de julho de 2020 da Lei 14.026 alterou em profundidade o marco legal do saneamento, adotando integralmente a pauta da desestatização do setor. O novo marco regulatório veta o contrato de programa, torna obrigatória a licitação para contratação do serviço de saneamento, estabelece diretrizes nacionais para que estados e municípios acessem recursos federais e institui o regime de regulação nacional por meio da Agência Nacional de Águas e Saneamento Básico. O modelo cooperativo praticado no Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) pode servir como referência para a construção de um pacto social no setor.

Abstract This paper describes the challenges currently facing Brazil's basic sanitation sector. The sector's characteristic profitability and dynamism have brought State-run Water & Sewage (W&S) services into the spotlight of the structural reform agenda on the argument that governments do not have the resources necessary to universalize coverage. There is a pattern of W&S services' operating with a surplus, which helps explain the intense dispute in recent years in favour of legal changes to the market position of CESBs and local providers to favour an expanding role for private agents. Converging with the structural reform agenda, Law 14,026, sanctioned on 15 July 2020, made far-reaching changes to the legal framework for sanitation and provided for the State's complete withdrawal from the sector. The new regulatory framework prohibited programme contracts, required tender processes for sanitation service contracts, encouraged regionalization without CESBs, set out national guidelines for States and municipalities to access federal funding and introduced a national regulation regime under the National Waters and Basic Sanitation Agency. The model of cooperation that operates in the SUS could serve as a reference for constructing a social pact in the sector.

RESUMEN

Green financial investment and privatization have been widely used as policy tools to promote economic growth and efficiency in many countries. However, their effects on environmental sustainability have been less explored. This study utilizes autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) and quantile autoregressive distributed lag (QARDL) techniques to explore the effects of green financial investment and privatization on economic and environmental performance in China. Using data from 1995 to 2021, we analyze the impact of green financial investment and privatization on economic performance, measured by GDP per capita, and environmental performance, measured by CO2 emissions based on green finance and privatization theories. Our findings reveal that green financial investment has a beneficial effect on both economic and environmental performance. On the other hand, privatization has a positive impact on long-term economic performance, while also having negative consequences on environmental performance. These findings can inform evidence-based policies and strategies that promote both economic and environmental performance.

Asunto(s)

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

How do nursing home residents decide when, whether, or how to respond to their own and others' care needs when the need to do is constant? What can we learn from them about care politics in our aging society? Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in three long-term residential care homes in Ontario Canada, this article weaves approaches from the arts, humanities, and interpretive sociology to respond to these questions. Contextualizing nursing home residents' stories of care within broader sociocultural and political contexts, I consider how they develop critical and creative insights, not only about direct care or nursing home life but about moral, philosophical, and culturally significant questions relevant to care provision. As political actors engaged in a "politics of responsibility," they put work into navigating, negotiating, and making sense of their own and others' care needs in under-resourced contexts and in relation to circulating narratives about care, aging, and disability. Exposed to constant demands to care for others, residents' stories highlight the importance of expanding cultural narratives to embrace embodied differences or care needs, to help people to talk about their own needs or limits, and to organize care as a shared, collective responsibility.

Asunto(s)

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Recent vaccine scandals have overshadowed China's accomplishments in public health, triggering discussions on the causes of vaccine incidents. This study aims to review the development of China's vaccine administration, find out the causes of recurring vaccine incidents in the past decades, and propose a new governance approach to vaccine administration in the context of a public resource trading system. We collect and analyze relevant legal frameworks and data from legislative materials, government documents, press releases, and reports from the World Health Organization. In essence, it is the combination of the lagging legal system and the absence of information technology infrastructure in the process of vaccine administration reform that has led to the recurrence of vaccine incidents. Though the vaccine incidents occurred concentratedly in phases of production and lot release, and circulation, it is necessary to examine the whole life cycle of vaccine administration. The enactment of the Vaccine Administration Law outlines a supervision framework, which utilizes the Whole Process Electronic Traceability System and Whole Life-cycle Quality Management System to achieve the interconnection of all aspects of vaccine administration. The reform of China's vaccine administration is essentially a balance between efficiency and safety, which also represents the interaction between marketization and administrative supervision.

Asunto(s)