04-30-2010, 08:11 AM
Health care system:
Health care systems are designed to meet the health care needs of target populations. There are a wide variety of health care systems around the world. In some countries, the health care system planning is distributed among market participants, whereas in others planning is made more centrally among governments, trade unions, charities, religious, or other co-ordinated bodies to deliver planned health care services targeted to the populations they serve. However, health care planning has often been evolutionary rather than revolutionary.
Goals:
The goals for health systems, according to the World Health Report 2000 - Health systems: improving performance (WHO, 2000), are good health, responsiveness to the expectations of the population, and fair financial contribution. Duckett (2004) proposed a two dimensional approach to evaluation of health care systems: quality, efficiency and acceptability on one dimension and equity on another.
Providers:
Health care providers are trained professional people working self-employed or as an employee in an organization, whether a for-profit company, a not-for profit company, a government entity, or a charity. Organizations employing people providing health care are also known as health care providers. Examples are doctors and nurses, paramedics, dentists, medical laboratory staff, specialist therapists, psychologists, pharmacists, chiropractors, and optometrists.
Financing:
There are generally five primary methods of funding health care systems:
- direct or out-of-pocket payments,
- general taxation to the state, county or municipality,
- social health insurance,
- voluntary or private health insurance, and
- donations or community health insurance.
Health informatics:
Health informatics or medical informatics is the intersection of information science, medicine and health care. It deals with the resources, devices and methods required to optimize the acquisition, storage, retrieval and use of information in health and biomedicine. Health informatics tools include not only computers but also clinical guidelines, formal medical terminologies, and information and communication systems.
Management:
![[Image: Poliodrops.jpg]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Poliodrops.jpg)
A child being immunized against polio
Public health is concerned with threats to the overall health of a community based on population health analysis. The population in question can be as small as a handful of people or as large as all the inhabitants of several continents (for instance, in the case of a pandemic). Public health is typically divided into epidemiology, biostatistics and health services. Environmental, social, behavioral, and occupational health are also important subfields.
Vaccination policy refers to the policy a government adopts in relation to vaccination. Vaccinations are voluntary in some countries and mandatory in some countries. Some governments pay all or part of the costs of vaccinations for vaccines in a national vaccination schedule.
Today, most governments recognize the importance of public health programs in reducing the incidence of disease, disability, and the effects of aging, although public health generally receives significantly less government funding compared with medicine. In recent years, public health programs providing vaccinations have made incredible strides in promoting health, including the eradication of smallpox, a disease that plagued humanity for thousands of years.
An important public health issue facing the world currently is HIV/AIDS. Another major public health concern is diabetes[9]. In 2006, according to the World Health Organization, at least 171 million people worldwide suffered from diabetes. Its incidence is increasing rapidly, and it is estimated that by the year 2030, this number will double. A controversial aspect of public health is the control of smoking.
Antibiotic resistance is another major concern, leading to the reemergence of diseases such as Tuberculosis.
Special health care systems:
- Occupational safety and health
- School health services
- Military medicine
Pakistan:
Pakistan's health indicators, health funding, and health and sanitation infrastructure are generally poor, particularly in rural areas. About 19 percent of the population is malnourisheda higher rate than the 17 percent average for developing countriesand 30 percent of children under age five are malnourished. Leading causes of sickness and death include gastroenteritis, respiratory infections, congenital abnormalities, tuberculosis, malaria, and typhoid fever. The United Nations estimates that in 2003 Pakistans human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence rate was 0.1 percent among those 1549, with an estimated 4,900 deaths from acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). AIDS is a major health concern, and both the government and religious community are engaging in efforts to reduce its spread. In 2003 there were 68 physicians for every 100,000 persons in Pakistan. According to 2002 government statistics, there were 12,501 health institutions nationwide, including 4,590 dispensaries, 906 hospitals with a total of 80,665 hospital beds, and 550 rural health centers with a total of 8,840 beds. According to the World Health Organization, Pakistans total health expenditures amounted to 3.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2001, and per capita health expenditures were US$16. The government provided 24.4 percent of total health expenditures, with the remainder being entirely private, out-of-pocket expenses.
