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This article aims to disclose the response capacity of the Health Information Systems (HIS) in Colombia to support an inspection, surveillance and control model (ISC) driven towards the monitoring of the risks undermining the access, use and quality of the health services. This paper is based on a descriptive cross-sectional study under a risk management approach including a review of the regulations framework dealing with the threats to the effective enjoyment of the right to health (EERH) and the characteristics of the information reported by the actors in the system, which is required to carry out the said monitoring. The data supporting the monitoring to the health care processes and its impact on the population health are not enough to appropriately oversee the risks involved. Advantage should be taken from the changes currently taking place in the health system in order to rethink how the system performance is taken as monitored object. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to analyze how the prevention of HIV infection in Colombia -- from the 1980s until now -- has taken place, given that it is one of the main measures to control infection. We present the epidemiological context in the world and in Colombia, the development of the prevention of infection, and conclude with some reflections on the gaps and realities of what has characterized HIV prevention in our environment. Methodology: we analyzed papers and scientific articles in Spanish, English, and Portuguese from 2000 to 2016, available in PubMed Lilacs, Ebsco, Medline, Justor, and Scielo. Seventy-five articles were reviewed out of which twenty-nine selected. Conclusions: HIV prevention must move from the assistance-based approach to policies that promote human, social, and economic development, without leaving aside the fact that the general population is at risk of acquiring the infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I discuss the relevance of the program of social critical theory to examine the demands for justice in public health from a non-reductionist perspective —that is, a not sectorial one— that accounts for the intimate relationship between health and social arrangements and allows further exploration of the fundamental question about the necessary conditions for human self-realization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Characterizing and evaluating information systems on the health sector in Colombia. Methodology: A conceptual frame that included the legal context of the country and organization of information systems in other countries was developed. Later on, Colombian health information system was characterized starting on interviews with important actors and papers. Finally, the organization of the system, information flows and its strengths and weaknesses were analyzed in order to propose some recommendations. Results and conclusions: information system of the Colombian health sector is divided and evidencing quality issues, as in other countries. The development of a production, diffusion and use of information culture is essential. We must take advantage of the change that is occurring in the health system for improving the information. Capture mechanisms for information require a simplification and standardization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the theoretical and methodological approach that was elaborated for the analysis of the formulation of sexual and reproductive public policies for the youth in Colombia. This is the result of a doctoral thesis and its objective is to understand the configuration of the political aspects of the public policies that are thought for a specific population: young people. This analysis intends to go deeper than a traditional evaluation about the impact of a policy. This approach assumes it not only as a technical issue, but as a result for correlating forces in which processes, conflicts and confrontations between different actors are involved. The research uses the political contention as an analysis tool. The study starts with a critical revision of previous studies with similar goals, but performed in other locations, and then, it presents the contributions of the current investigation in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practice of dentistry has undergone a process of reflection relative to other academic disciplines. This paper proposes the implementation of a new political field in the oral health agenda in Colombia by means of exploring some social and health indicators. Furthermore, principles in collective oral health were addressed: oral health as a fundamental right, community capacity for assuming the monitoring of health and its determinants, and the participation of social, economic, and academic actors and the health care services. A protagonist role by society as well as greater collective consciousness on the part of professionals, decision-makers and the health sector in general are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the public policies and components of the healthcare system affecting Colombian women with HIV/AIDS. Although there is national interest in controlling the HIV/ AIDS epidemic, current policies are not linked to specific lines of action and do not include a coherent gender approach that can guarantee comprehensive healthcare. HIV/AIDS policies are formulated within the frame of current economic policies and health reform implemented as part of Law 100 of 1993. These policies must be supported by economic plans that make it possible for the most vulnerable population to overcome the conditions of social inequity and by a healthcare system which guarantees complete access to appropriate healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows the relationship between Psychology and Public Health. The main tensions among these fields and the possible interdisciplinary conditions that will allow the production of beneficial effects in individual and population health are presented. Then, the encounters between Health Psychology -with a behavioral approach- and the dominant current of Public Health -based on an individualistic notion of the social and public issues- are described, especially in the areas of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. Finally, some challenges for Colombian Psychology in order to advance in the integration with the Public Health in five scenarios are presented: as a field of knowledge, education, practice, research and as a scientific and professional community. The principal challenge is to develop a renovated approach from Health Psychology, constructing new models and approaches of individuality in relation to collectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines different theoretical and empirical research papers on service quality and on measuring it locally and worldwide in the health sector, which have been reported in specialized publications since the early 1990s. Findings make the lack of consensus in defining and determining the dimensions that make up quality in health services evident and such dimensions are necessary for developing reliable measurement instruments that enable offering users better quality. To that regard, in Colombia diverse methodologies for measuring and evaluating the quality of health services have been tried out. SERVQUAL is the most used instrument for such purpose worldwide; notwithstanding, after applying it in Colombia, the results obtained did not allow any generalizations. That situation reveals the need to conduct research using other theoretical models, such as SERVPERF or the multidimensional hierarchical approach, which enable the development of valid, appropriate measurement scales for the local context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]