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12 - Paradigm shifts in the health sector: mission and methods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 December 2010

Jean-Pierre Unger
Affiliation:
Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp
Pierre De Paepe
Affiliation:
Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp
Kasturi Sen
Affiliation:
Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp
Werner Soors
Affiliation:
Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp
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Summary

Adapted from: J.-P. Unger. How could disease-specific programmes strengthen health systems delivering comprehensive health care? Strategic and technical guidelines. European Commission, 30 September 2008, Brussels.

Part 1: The need to alter health systems' missions to deliver comprehensive care

The strengthening of health systems appears to have become a motto for international health agencies since 2003, when the former director of the WHO, Jong-Wook Lee (2003–2006), called for a radical re-think of policy, if diseases are to be successfully controlled (Jong-Wook,2003). This view has been echoed by his successor Margaret Chan. However, unlike the growing body of scientific papers that have begun to advocate the strengthening of health systems over the past several years, we would argue that health systems can only be strengthened if they are designed to deliver universally accessible comprehensive care. The remainder of this chapter outlines the rationale for this thinking.

Comprehensive health care: medical and managerial arguments

In a recent address to the 61st World Health Assembly, WHO Director, Dr Margaret Chan, acknowledged that the MDGs had stalled (see Section 1) (Chan, 2008). Besides the MDGs, the control of neglected diseases has also met with difficulties (see Section 1, Chapter 2).

Type
Chapter
Information
International Health and Aid Policies
The Need for Alternatives
, pp. 155 - 163
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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