Health Policy Paralysis in Former Socialist Countries - Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5644/Radovi.374Keywords:
health policy, national health care systems, interest groups, Eastern Europe, Bosnia and HerzegovinaAbstract
The inability of Former Socialist Countries (FCS) to improve the performance of their National Health Care Systems (NHCS), even 15 years after the collapse of communist regimes, is in this paper called the paralysis of health policy. The author distinguishes two different explanations of the deterioration of the health status and the health care after the transition to market economy. One ascribes the responsibility for current deficiencies to economic policy imposed by International financial organizations, and expects the improvement from economic recovery. The other sees the deficiencies as the effect of poor macro-management, absence of clear concepts (road maps) for the „transition” of socialist health system to something better, and to the lack of qualified management advisers. The paper uses the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina to illustrate the disastrous effects of poor management, and describes the failed strategy of a nongovernmental organization (NGO) to motivate decision-makers and health bureaucracy to agree about essentials of a common health policy useful for all the population of this country.
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