scholarly journals Access barriers to visual health

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Alejandra Rodríguez-Echeverría ◽  
Angélica María Páez-Castro

A number of factors and conditions hinder and restrict access to the health care system and its different services; these barriers to access put at risk the health of people by affecting adequate processes. Objective: To carry out a literature review on barriers to access to the health care system and visual health services in Colombia and around the world. Methodology: A literature review was carried out based on a search of the Medline, ScienceDirect, and Pubmed databases, as well as indexed public health journals and the websites of the Local Health Authority, the World Health Organization, the Pan American Health Organization, the UNESCO, and the Brien Holden Vision Institute. Results: The main barriers related to demand, both in general services and in visual health, are the lack of perception on the need for service and lack of economic resources; at the offer level, the existing policies constitute a real obstacle. Conclusions: Awareness-raising in the population, together with the implementation of health policies that grant equal access to health care services, are fundamental to prevent people from being affected, to a large extent, by barriers related to demand or offer, regardless of their location or level of income.

2020 ◽  
pp. 101053952096846
Author(s):  
Kaixuan Hu

The purposes of this article are to explore the challenges the Chinese health care system will be facing in the next decade. The recent outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) having infected more than 90 000 persons in China (Source: World Health Organization, WHO Coronavirus Disease Dashboard) again reveals the weaknesses of the fragmental health care system. Over the past 3 decades, increasing out-of-pocket spending on health care, increasing mortality rate of chronic disease, growing disparities between rural and urban populations, the defectiveness of disease surveillance system, and disease outbreak response system have been pressing Chinese authorities for action. As this country has experienced an unprecedented economic growth along with an unparalleled development of health care system in the past 3 decades, the challenges ahead are unavoidably numerous and complex.


2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 685-691
Author(s):  
Borys O. Lohvynenko ◽  
Roman V. Myroniuk ◽  
Olexander P. Svitlychnyy ◽  
Aleksey Y. Prokopenko ◽  
Lidija I. Kalenichenko

Introduction: Nowadays there is the transformation of the national health care system in Ukraine, the ultimate goal of which is to create a modern, competitive model of medical care of citizens on the basis of forming packages of free medical services. However, the model adopted by Ukraine is in contradiction with national legislation in part of free medical aid guaranteed by the Art. 49 of the Constitution of Ukraine, and fragmentary considers positive international practices. The aim of the paper is to determine the mistakes of the reform of the Ukrainian health care system and to reveal the positive international practices of the organization of health care systems that can be implemented in Ukraine. Materials and methods: National and international legislation, official web resources of the executive authorities of Ukraine, statistics of the World Health Organization, materials of journalistic and scientific periodicals are the materials for the research of the health care system in Ukraine in comparison with international practices. Research methods are cross-sectoral, complex statistical, comparative, generalization, analysis and synthesis. In order to obtain the results, the authors have conducted a critical analysis of the current norms of the national Ukrainian legislation in the health care sector. Review: The authors of the article have studied the main disadvantages of the national health care system in accordance with the concept of reforming the medical sector. Positive international practices that can be implemented into Ukrainian system for the real improvement of medical human rights in Ukraine have been revealed. Conclusions: It has been proved that the ongoing reform of the health care system in Ukraine needs to be reviewed and optimized. It has been offered to consolidate a perspective model of the Ukrainian health care system, its principles and guarantees of immunity at the legislative level.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 260-262
Author(s):  
Saikou Omar Sillah ◽  
Xu Yihua

On 31st December 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) was notified of a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause detected in the Wuhan, Hubei Province of China which eventually was named to be the Corona virus disease. In response to the rapid spread of the virus, WHO declared it a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) on 30th January, 2020. As per the quest to recharge the COVID-19 response power, there is seemingly little or no tangible plans to help permanently reorient Africa’s health care system. In the wake of widespread vaccine nationalism, donor countries continue to secure large quantities of vaccines from developers and manufacturers, causing global disparity in access to COVID-19 vaccines.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (01) ◽  
pp. 21-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ho So ◽  
Chi Chiu Mok

On March 12, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) a pandemic. The rapidly increasing number of cases and deaths have overwhelmed the health care system worldwide. We aimed to provide a narrative review on some practical issues of COVID-19 and rheumatic diseases with the limited data to the date of April 26, 2020.


Author(s):  
Blánaid Daly ◽  
Paul Batchelor ◽  
Elizabeth Treasure ◽  
Richard Watt

The World Health Organization defines a health care system as: . . . all organizations, people and actions whose primary intent is to promote, restore or maintain health. This includes efforts to influence determinants of health as well as more direct health-improving activities. . . . . . . (WHO 2007) . . . Such a definition covers a myriad of potential elements and factors, of which the dental element is but one. A health care system is not static: it evolves as part of the more general social and welfare arrangements in a society. As a member of a health care profession, all dental care providers need to have an appreciation of the wider aspects of any arrangements of health, its determinants, and care delivery, if only to understand how the pressures on a system may impact on their current and future activities. This chapter provides an overview of health care systems and provides the framework for Chapters 18–23. Health care systems are complex organizations that are in a constant process of change and evolution. Dentistry is one very small component of the wider health care system, which is itself part of the overall social welfare system within society. Dentists, as health professionals, need to understand the basic elements of the health care system within which they are working. The development of health care systems is an ongoing process in which all societies try to meet the health needs of its citizens. There is no society that has yet designed a system that meets the needs of all its citizens. Indeed, historically in many countries it was only the wealthy that were able to access health care in a society. As societies evolved, the pressures to make the health care system accessible to all its members grew. Mays (1991) has highlighted the political importance of health care, showing that many health care systems reforms were designed to prevent political instability and improve the fitness of army recruits. Indeed, the development of the then School Dental Service in the UK was brought about following questions in Parliament about the poor state of soldiers’ teeth in the Boer War.


2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 38-47
Author(s):  
Victoria E. Matskevich ◽  

Introduction. In shaping a strategy for the socio-economic development of countries and enhancing the level and quality of life of the inhabitants, advancing the health care system is one of the vital national challenges. The purpose of the article – to analyse data on the provision of medical care to citizens, including the "oncology" profile, for 2019–2021. Materials and methods. A theoretical analysis of research materials (publications in periodicals, conference materials and analytical materials) was used, as well as a descriptive statistical analysis of data from the World Health Organisation, the United Nations, and the World Bank. Results. The country rating of the world in terms of the health care system effectiveness, in which the leading positions are taken by Hong Kong (87.3 points), Singapore, and Spain, is presented. South Sudan ranks first in the ranking of countries in terms of mortality rates, i.e. 7.8 people in 2020 for 1,000 population. The country with the most hospital beds is Monaco, a country and micro-state in Western Europe with 13.8 beds per 1,000. Spending on oncology will reach nearly $240 billion by 2023, an increase of 9–12%. Spending on all medications used to treat cancer patients reached nearly $150 billion in 2020, an increase of 12.9% year over year from treatment medications. Conclusion. An important condition for improving the health care system is the development of the health insurance system, the introduction of new regulation principles, the creation of a unified field of supervision over the medical insurance organisation activities.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maye Omar

Until the beginning of 1991, Somalia had a reasonable health care system with a good number of tertiary hospitals in Mogadishu and Hargeisa, some regional hospitals, district hospitals, clinics, child and mother health centres (CMH) and out-patient dispensaries. However, the conflict resulting from the civil war has destroyed the public health care system which existed in the country. Somalia was not alone in having conflicts. The total number of conflicts in the world in 2017 was 49, many of them have now entered post-conflict phases, where open warfare has come to an end. There is growing evidence that conflict has a devastating impact on health systems and the health status of the population. In Somalia, the post-conflict phase provides a unique window of opportunity for health sector development and reform. At this juncture, health systems in Somalia face the double burden of a flawed pre-conflict health system, characterised by deficiencies and inequities, and the long-term impact of conflict on the health status of the population and its resultant strain on the health system. This review article analyses the framework for the rehabilitation of health systems in post-conflict countries. Such knowledge can be applied in the rehabilitation and development of health systems in Somalia along the lines of the World Health Organization’s health system building blocks. The impact of conflict on the health status of the population as well as the health system can be catastrophic and be felt for years after the State has entered the post-conflict phase, but also provides an opportunity for reforms of the affected State’s health sector.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 1195-1198
Author(s):  
Wioletta Świeboda

The purpose of this paper is to present the main data about the health care sector depends on how it is financed and thus the choice of an appropriate model healthcare system. The article shows a comparative analysis of health care systems in European countries of the OECD. Based on the literature, the general characteristics of Beveridge and Bismarck systems are presented. The evolution of the health care system in the world arises from a different history, conditions for economic development, diversity, under State policy, geographical location and cultural. Every country in the world takes part in the financing of health care, which is 20-80% of the expenditure on health. According to t. Szumlicza you must distinguish between concepts: "model" and "standard". The "formula" is understood in the context of the broader concept of "model of the health system". As the author of finding "patterns express different real concept of health policy while the term" pattern "prejudge the specific choice of health policy, which is a reference to the health care system". The World Health Organisation defines the term "health system" as a system covering all organizations, investment and institutions whose concept is to create actions on improved health. According to the Organization's objectives is the basis for the operation of the system of health protection, which targets focus on: constant improving population health, meeting the demand needs of health services, where the recipient is you as a consumer. On the other hand, the term "health care" defined by the WHO as a program of benefits in accordance with medical knowledge necessary to promote and maintain health by sharing individuals and entire populations. C. Wlodarczyk stresses that for the proper definition of the concept of health system you must extract the three spheres of the impact of health policy: health, administrative institutions and finance health and traditional public health activities. Many definitions that appear in the literature points to the narrower scope of the definition of the concept of "health care system" than those WHO suggested.. Author B. McPake and colleagues present the thesis that the health system consists of payers, healthcare providers and regulatory bodies together with relationships that occur between them. These relationships are presented for four health system functions: regulatory, financial, allocation of resources and the provision of services. C. Bailey and S. Poździoch describe that the health system is a whole, consisting of a variety of elements, the associated affinity, between which there are relationships. S. Poździoch is used for the definition of the system: "organized and coordinated team actions, whose aim is the realization of benefits and services and awareness campaign-therapeutic and rehabilitation aimed at protection and improvement of the health status of the individual and the collective ". The fact is the large role played by the State in the health system.


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