scholarly journals The crisis of capitalism and the marketization of health care: the implications for public health professionals

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin McKee ◽  
David Stuckler

<p>The current economic crisis in Europe has challenged the basis of the economic model that currently prevails in much of the industrialised world. It has revealed a system that is managed not for the benefit of the people but rather for corporations and the small elite who lead them and which is clearly unsustainable in its present form. Yet, there is a hidden consequence of this system: an unfolding crisis in health care, driven by the greed of corporations whose profit-seeking model is also failing. Proponents of commodifying healthcare simultaneously argue that the cost of providing care for ageing populations is unaffordable while working to create demand for their health care products among those who are essentially healthy. Will healthcare be the next profit-fuelled investor bubble? In this paper we call on health professionals to heed the warnings from the economic crisis and, rather than stand by while a crisis unfolds, act now to redirect increasingly market-oriented health systems to serve the common good.</p>

2020 ◽  

Background: The relationship between oral health and general health is gaining interest in geriatric research; however, a lack of studies dealing with this issue from a general perspective makes it somewhat inaccessible to non-clinical public health professionals. Purpose: The purpose of this review is to describe the relationship between oral health and general health of the elderly on the basis of literature review, and to give non-clinical medical professionals and public health professionals an overview of this discipline. Methods: This study was based on an in-depth review of the literature pertaining to the relationship between oral health and general health among the older people. The tools commonly used to evaluate dental health and the academic researches of male elderly people were also reviewed. And future research directions were summarized. Results: Dental caries, periodontal disease, edentulism, and xerostomia are common oral diseases among the older people. Dental caries and periodontal diseases are the leading causes of missing teeth and edentulism. Xerostomia, similar to dry mouth, is another common oral health disease in the older people. No clear correlation exists between the subjective feeling of dryness and an objective decrease of saliva. Rather, both conditions can be explained by changes in saliva. The General Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI) and the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP) are the main assessment tools used to examine oral health and quality of life in the older people. The GOHAI tends to be more sensitive to objective values pertaining to oral function. In addition, oral health studies in male elderly people are population-based cohort or cross-sectional studies, involving masticatory function, oral prevention, frailty problems, cardiovascular disease risk, and cognitive status. Conclusion: It is possible to reduce the incidence of certain oral diseases, even among individuals who take oral health care seriously. Oral health care should be based on the viewpoint of comprehensive treatment, including adequate nutrition, good life and psychology, and correct oral health care methods. In the future, researchers could combine the results of meta-analysis with the clinical experience of doctors to provide a more in-depth and broader discussion on oral health research topics concerning the older people.


Health Policy ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 120 (11) ◽  
pp. 1293-1303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Porthé ◽  
Ingrid Vargas ◽  
Belén Sanz-Barbero ◽  
Isabel Plaza-Espuña ◽  
Lola Bosch ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong

Faith in public life can be associated with Christianity in Ghana from the days of the early Western missionaries. Christian faith perspectives on matters of public concerns however, assumed a wider scope with the practice of regular issuance of communiques to governments and the people of Ghana by the churches. Christian ministry is expected to be holistic. A holistic approach in Christian ministry is considered to lead to the holistic development of the nation for the common good and the glory of God. Church leaders subsequently, bring their faith perspectives to matters of public concerns as a ministerial mandate to be in pilgrimage with the people. The study is a reflection on how the churches’ communiques are done and the factors that make the communiques theological in the public space. It further seeks to identify the contribution of the construction of communiques to public theology in Christianity in Ghana. The study as qualitative, examines both available primary and secondary sources. Copies of communiques of some selected churches, ecumenical bodies and joint communiques by ecumenical bodies are examined to appreciate insights of communiques by the churches. The study seeks to make a contribution to the theological construction of public theologies in Ghana and African Christianity. KEYWORDS: Public Theology, African Christianity, Communique, Common Good


2012 ◽  
pp. 620-633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rashid L Bashshur ◽  
Gary W Shannon

This chapter provides both formal and operational definitions of telemedicine as well as the related concepts of telehealth, e-health, and m-health, and reviews the origin and historical evolution of the nomenclature and content of telemedicine over the last century. The rationale for telemedicine is discussed in terms of potential effects on improving access to care, especially for underserved, remote and isolated populations, redressing inequities in quality and cost containment in terms of greater efficiency and risk avoidance, not only singly but also symbiotically. The current status of telemedicine and the reasons for its limited diffusion to date are discussed. Finally, the empirical evidence is briefly reviewed, selecting one application as an example. The chapter concludes with an optimistic expectation of continued proliferation of the field to serve the common good.


Author(s):  
Charles Dorn

This chapter examines Bowdoin College, which was supported by district elites who worked to erect a regional center of higher learning to which they could send their sons rather than incur the cost of dispatching them south to other colleges. On the morning of Bowdoin's opening, appointed president Joseph McKeen pronounced the college's primary mission: “That the inhabitants of this district may have their own sons to fill the liberal professions among them, and particularly to instruct them in the principles and practice of our holy religion, is doubtless the object of this institution.” This conception of higher education's function in American society drew heavily on a social ethos of civic-mindedness that assigned priority to social responsibility over individuals' self indulgence. Characterized by the practice of civic virtue and a commitment to the public good, civic-mindedness provided social institutions, including those dedicated to higher learning, a source from which to derive their central aims.


2020 ◽  
pp. 002436392095166
Author(s):  
Brother Ignatius Perkins

Health services in the United States, driven by moral relativism, technology, financial algorithms, present draconian threats to the ability of these services to respond to the health care needs of the American people. Critical moral issues must be addressed, resolved, and serve as the foundation for a renewed health care system that fulfills the call for the common good and provides services in response to the question “who do we really care about.” Millions of our brothers and sisters continue to join the ranks of the uninsured and unemployed. What is urgently needed is a fair, equitable, accessible, affordable, and, most importantly, an ethical system of health care where the dignity and freedom of the human person, across the continuum of life from conception to natural death, is once again recognized as the summit of the work before us.


1982 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 325-330
Author(s):  
James Maclachlan

The Medical and Nursing Advisers of the Scottish Health Service, Common Services Agency, Building Division, advise upon the planning of health care accommodation. The overall spread of beds by function is given in a review of existing health care buildings in the year 1981. The numbers of hospital beds and of various groups of staff in the hospital and community services are calculated per 100,000 population so that any unusual disparity can be ascertained. One of the parameters for health building planning is fiscal control and so the cost per hospital in-patient week is tabulated for eight groups of specialities. The appropriate responsibilities of the Regional Councils in Scotland in 1979 are considered along with the responsibilities of Health Boards because part of each Social Work Department's work is the provision of accommodation and social care for those in need as opposed to the National Health Service responsibility for the health care of those in hospital and in the community. An overall view of residential accommodation for those requiring medical treatment or social care is presented in tabular form. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the Common Services Agency.


1988 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 567-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Grofman ◽  
Scott L. Feld

We identify three basic elements of Rousseau's theory of the general will: (1) there is a common good; (2) citizens are not always accurate in their judgments about what is in the common good; and (3) when citizens strive to identify the common good and vote in accordance with their perceptions of it, the vote of the Assembly of the People can be taken to be the most reliable means for ascertaining the common good. We then show that Condorcet's (1785) model of collective judgment shares these assumptions with Rousseau and that understanding the implications of Condorcet's (1785) “jury theorem” enables us to clarify many of the most obscure aspects of Rousseau's treatment of the general will, including his discussion of the debilitating effects of factions and his confidence in the ability of the Assembly of the People to discern the general will by means of voting.


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