International Health and Aid Policies: The Need for Alternatives

International health and aid policies of the past two decades have had a major impact on the delivery of care in low and middle-income countries. This book argues that these policies have often failed to achieve their main aims, and have in fact contributed to restricted access to family medicine and hospital care. Presenting detailed evidence, and illustrated by case studies, this book describes how international health policies to date have largely resulted in expensive health care for the rich, and disjointed and ineffective services for the poor. As a result, large segments of the population world-wide continue to suffer from unnecessary casualties, pain and impoverishment. International Health and Aid Policies arms health professionals, researchers and policy makers with strategies that will enable them to bridge the gaps between public health, medicine and health policy in order to support robust, comprehensive and accessible health care systems in any political environment.

Jean-Pierre Unger is senior lecturer and co-director of the MPH programme at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium. Pierre De Paepe is a researcher at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium. Kasturi Sen is a social scientist at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium. Werner Soors is a researcher and teacher at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.