Balancing Public and Private Health Care Systems: The Sub-Saharan African Experience

by Randolph Quaye

Overview

Balancing Public and Private Health Care Systems appears at a timely moment, given widespread current discussion about equity in healthy care and the role of the state in healthcare planning. In response to the World Bank recommendation that the principle of cost recovery be included in healthcare financing strategies, African countries embraced the principle of public-private partnerships in healthcare. It was argued then, and still now, that a way out of their health conundrum is for governments to play a smaller role in healthcare. The present book explores the different financing arrangements in Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda. It introduces new scholarship on post-colonial healthcare strategies in Africa, especially during a decade of market-oriented healthcare reform. Drawing upon current research and case studies, as well as recent work by the author himself on African healthcare systems, this book sets out to analyze the implications of the various strategies for the future of healthcare financing in Africa.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761849308
Publisher:	University Press of America
Publication date:	02/15/2010
Pages:	90
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Randolph Quaye is a professor at Ohio Wesleyan University and director of the Black World Studies Department. He received a B.A. from the University of Ghana, a M.A. from Acadia University, and a Ph.D. from Northeastern University. Quaye, a member of Health Technology Assessment International, System Science in Health, and Tanzanian Public Heath Association, has published several previous works, including African Americans' Health Care Practices, Perspectives, and Needs (University Press of America, 2005) and Recent Reforms in the Swedish Health Care System: Implications for the Swedish Welfare State (University Press of America, 2007).

Table of Contents

Preface v

Introduction ix

1 Crisis and Change in African Health Care Financing Systems 1

2 Market Reforms in Health Care and the Role of the State 11

3 User Fees: A Special Issue for Health Care Delivery in Africa 15

4 Health Care Financing in Uganda: The Role of Social Health Insurance 25

5 Balancing Public and Private Health Care in Tanzania 35

6 Health Care Financing in Ghana: Role of The National Health Insurance Scheme 43

7 The Role of Community Health Funding in Health Care Access in Africa: Lessons from Tanzania 55

8 Health Care Financing Strategies: Lessons from Abroad 61

References 65

Index 69