This chapter summarizes the overall argument and points to the influential role that elites from esteemed professions played in the institutionalization of policy in the three cases. While in all cases democratization provided new opportunities for professional movements in medicine to use the organizational vehicle of the state to advance universal health coverage and the power of the law to deepen commitments to essential medicine, The chapters relate how the differences in outcomes between Thailand and Brazil, on one hand, and South Africa, on the other, hinged on dramatically different political dynamics. I consider the contemporary state of professional movements and health reforms in the three countries; why health has remained a minor concern to mass movements; the durability of professional movements; the influence of professional movements in other policy domains and cases; and their relevance to the United States and other countries in the industrializing world.
Digital health vision: could MomConnect provide a pragmatic starting point for achieving universal health coverage in South Africa and elsewhere?
