Healthcare Policies & Women's Health

Articles

• Health Care: Who Should Pay For What?
  Today, maternal, newborn and child health are no longer discussed in purely technical terms, but as part of a broader agenda of universal access. We must spare no effort to find financing solutions which work for rich and poor countries alike because a population's good health is one of a country's most precious assets. As the reform of health care systems progresses, countries are searching for a balance between the financial benefits of a competitive health care market, and the need for fairness in sharing the burden of treatment costs. Differences between countries mean that no single model of health care financing will apply everywhere; principles must be adapted to the specific local context. The key to moving towards universal access and financial protection is the organization of financing. Current government expenditure and international flows cannot guarantee universal access and financial protection, because they are insufficient and because they are too unpredictable. Better health through better use of resources.
  
  
• Improving Maternal Health through Education
  Education improves health, while health improves learning potential. Education and health complement, enhance and support each other; together, they serve as the foundation for a better world. Gender equality, including in education, is a condition for development. In so doing, we can make healthier choices and lay the foundations for true social and economic development. If we consider what it takes to create health, the school becomes an ideal setting for action. Schools can help young people acquire the basic skills needed to create health. Adolescents find themselves under strong peer pressure to engage in highly risky behavior, which can have serious implications on theirlives. Lack of access to and use of essential obstetric services is a crucial factor that contributes to high maternal mortality. Continuing medical education in women's health and health care is beneficial to both donor and recipient countries and can engage public and private stakeholders towards common goals.
  
  

• Poverty and Maternal Mortality
  The wide acceptance of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the international community confirms the central role of human development, including health and nutrition, in combating poverty. As countries develop and implement their Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRS), one of the key challenges is to identify actions that will have the greatest impact on poverty and improve the lives of poor. The challenge is compounded by the fact that poverty has many dimensions, cuts across many sectors, and is experienced differently by women and by men. In no region of the developing world are women equal to men in legal, social and economic rights. Gender gaps are widespread in access to and control of resources, in economic opportunities, in power and political voice. Gender equality is a development objective on its own -- it also makes good business sense as it is central to economic growth and sustainable development. Safe Motherhood is back at the top of the global health agenda. Today the interventions already exist to transform the lives of millions of mothers and children and to prevent millions of tragically premature deaths and disabilities.
  
  

• Healthcare Patents and The Interests of Patients
  Discussions of intellectual property are very complex and involve knowledge of convoluted laws, legal decisions, economic and business analyses. This forum attempts to present and evaluate the arguments on all sides and suggests a possible way out of the current impasse. It attempts to determine the ethical responsibility of the drug industry in making drugs available to the needy, while at the same time developing the parallel responsibilities of individuals, governments, and NGOs. It concludes with the suggestions and areas for future development of mutual interests (continuing medical education initiatives).
  
  
• Improving Maternal and Child Health: Towards Universal Access
  Universal access for mothers and children requires health systems to be able to respond to the needs and demands of the population, and to offer them protection against the financial hardship that results from ill-health. Children are the future of society and their mothers are guardians of that future. To make this possible; investments in health systems and in the human resources for health need to be stepped up. Women's Health and Education Center (WHEC) addresses through its publications the most pressing public health concerns of populations around the world. To ensure the widest possible availability of authoritative information and guidance on public health matters, WHEC encourages its translation and adaptation.
  
  
• Ethical Issues in Reproductive Health: That Delicate Balance
  Although the deliberate creation of human embryos for scientific research is complicated by ethical and practical issues, a detailed understanding of the cellular and molecular events occurring during human fertilization is essential, particularly for understanding infertility. When research is carefully targeted to identify and solve reproductive health problems, it can potentially serve as a powerful tool for health and social development. Scientific information alone cannot resolve questions about the moral status of the pre-embryos (stem cells). At the dawn of the genomic era, with its unprecedented research, there is an opportunity to ask the right questions.