What social factors contribute to the tragic state of health care in Africa?
Focusing on East African societies, this book is the first to investigate what role religion plays in health care in African cultures. Taking into account the geopolitical and economic environments of the region, the authors examine the roles played by individual and group beliefs, government policies, and pressure from the Millennium Development Goals in affecting health outcomes.
Informed by existing related studies, and on-the-ground interviews with individuals and organizations in Uganda, Mozambique and Ethiopia, this interdisciplinary book will form an invaluable resource for scholars seeking to better understand the links between society, multi-level state instruments, and health care in East Africa.
includes increasing access to health services, especially for rural Mozambicans. Health policies are contained in a number of government documents. The 2007–2012 Health Sector Plan sets government priorities for Mozambique. Koenig and Goodwin (2011: 8) reported that “cornerstones of the policy are primary health care, equity, and better quality of care.” They add, however, that the percentage of government spending consumed by the health sector is not altogether clear. The Ministry of Health estimated the proportion at around 11%. This fell below the Abuja
attempts to capitalise on public discontent with medical professional power, though less successful, have been a feature of health policy in New Zealand as elsewhere. There are other good reasons to suggest that the rationalist approaches to policy making and the solicitation of public input are not incompat- ible in practice. Pieter Degeling (1996) argues that the discourse of critical theory approaches to health sector planning which emphasise pub- lic participation is just as signifi cant and prevalent as the rationalist discourse of policy making. From the
