Tiago Villanueva: Austerity eroding Portuguese healthcare

In 1960, Portugal’s infant mortality rate was 77.5 deaths per 1000 live births, which is comparable to that of many Sub Saharan African countries today. In 2010, Portugal’s infant mortality rate was 2.5 deaths per 1000 live births, one of the lowest in Europe and in the world. […]

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Richard Smith: Does it still make sense for healthcare to be “free” and social care means tested?

Does it make sense for the state to pay tens of thousands of pounds for a drug that might keep a patient with cancer alive for another six weeks and leave frail elderly people alone and lonely? Is it the right use of resources to keep a 23 week old fetus alive and probably severely […]

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Kathi Apostolidis: Demolishing the Greek national healthcare system the amateur way

It takes vision, passion for healthcare, compassion for those who suffer, knowledge, a dedicated team of experts, commitment from all stakeholders, and experience of what it means to be a patient to plan a new strategy for the healthcare sector. These are all missing from what the Greek Ministry of Health has done for the […]

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Aser García Rada: Spain’s healthcare revolution

Spain’s state run healthcare system, one of the best in the world according to the World Health Organization, is facing a serious threat. In the face of growing privatisation, cuts seem inevitable, especially after the overwhelming victory of the conservative Popular Party (PP) in the latest regional elections on 22 May. Since then the PP […]

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Tiago Villanueva: National health services are a great thing, particularly in times of financial austerity

Looking at my country’s national health service which is chiefly funded by taxes, from a user’s rather than from a provider’s perspective (or better, from a passive rather than from an active perspective), gives me plenty of food for thought.  A relative of mine was recently admitted to the local hospital in very serious condition. They had not […]

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Tracey Koehlmoos: Providing healthcare for the homeless in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Street dwellers, as homeless people are called locally, are ubiquitous in Dhaka. As a health systems researcher, much of my work is far removed from the people around me. Things like systematic reviews, knowledge translation platforms, and capacity building seem to have little immediate impact on the ultrapoor, but recently we completed a small project […]

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Tessa Richards: Postoperative posting

Sarah Palin may have raised the profile of female politicians, but I’m lifting my glass to the girls who saw me through surgery last week. I did spot the odd male among the panoply of health professionals who looked after me, but they were thin on the ground. From the consultant surgeon and anaesthetist to […]

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