 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Walter Flores, BA McommH, Research Associate, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, 4403 4th Road N., #2, Arlington, VA 22203, 703-516-9769, wflores@worldwidedialup.net
In Latin America, political constitutions of most countries identify health and health care as a citizen’s right (among others such as education and housing). Notions of fairness and social justice are also present. Nonetheless, Latin America is the most unequal region of the world. Having constitutional precepts based on fairness and social justice is clearly not enough for most countries in the region. A similar case is observed with recent health policy reforms. Those reforms claim to be concerned in achieving greater equity and social justice in health and health care. However in practice, most interventions appear superficial and with little benefit to the fairness of the system. The challenge for many Latin American countries is to bring legal precepts into practice. In the health sector, this legal precepts include a greater role for civil society and local authorities in the planning and evaluation of health resources. A network of researchers, health care managers and policy makers is active in several countries of the region (Guatemala, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Chile, Mexico, Colombia) seeking to connect those legal precepts (fairness and social justice) with the every day work of health institutions, local and national authorities and civil society. The benchmarks of fairness approach is the basis to carry out this work. An adaptation of the original work by Daniels et al, was carried out in each country taking into account the specific context of each one. The main challenge of this work is to connect the benchmarks approach with existing tools and processes existing in each country (annual operational plans, strategic plans, multi-year plans).
Learning Objectives:
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.