Search

Poor health and disease and the nature of interventions to ameliorate them typically generate opportunities and costs. What diseases are prevalent, which interventions are favoured and what factors fuel the nature of health interventions are recurrent concerns for political economists. This paper examines the prevailing viewpoints about what health policy works and what does not. Drawing on evidence from developing countries, it shows that there are many deficiencies in the prevailing orthodoxy which emphasises state, market, and civil society solutions. The paper suggests that health policy debate must be refrained around poverty and social inequality, constructs which are often subordinated to attaining grand ideological goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This paper examines social inequality in children's health following the election of Evo Morales. Bolivia is marked by dramatic socioeconomic, ethnic and geographic inequality in children's health. The Morales government initiated several public health reforms designed to provide more equal access to public health services. Methods: Analysis was conducted using Bolivia Demographic and Health Survey data from 2003 to 2008. Results: The analysis shows some improvements in children's health. However, inequality in access to doctors, child mortality and child nutritional status did not diminish. In contrast, inequalities in immunization declined dramatically. Conclusions: Results suggest that aspects of health that are easier to implement such as immunization are more accessible to public policy than are more complex health problems like malnutrition and high child mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]