Social Development and Public Governance > Social Development > Health and HIV/AIDS
Health Financing Innovations in the Caribbean: EHPOŠ and the National Health Fund of Jamaica
By Raphael Barrett, Stanley Lalta (12/04, SOC-138, En)
The health status of people living in the Caribbean may be characterized as low child mortality, low adult mortality (WHO, 2003) and reflects epidemiological patterns more associated with those of developed countries. Following decades of strong public commitment to health and other welfare-enhancing measures, significant progress has been made in reducing the threat of infectious diseases. But progress has also led to the dominance of chronic noncommunicable conditions and an increase in the number of accidents and injuries, which, along with the HIV/AIDS epidemic, have multiplied the challenges facing these countries to sustain improvements in health status. Their dilemma is how to generate and allocate adequate resources to finance the mix of health services needed to address the spectrum of health conditions: persistent infectious diseases, chronic conditions, accidents and injuries, and HIV/AIDS.
Last updated: 06/01/07
