We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Hospital Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa and Post-Colonial Development Impasse.
- Authors
McPake, Barbara
- Abstract
The pattern of hospital development was set in colonised sub-Saharan countries in the early twentieth century on the basis of the demands of the colonial project and the strategies of missions. In the immediate post-independence period, democratic and egalitarian policy in some countries pointed to the expansion of health services to under-served areas. However, the idealism associated with independence waned and more pronounced tensions emerged. Plans for expanded primary health care systems were sacrificed in favour of hospital services for a privileged elite. Over the same period, a group of international agencies have been associated with the promotion of more egalitarian and primary health care-focused strategies. But there has been a failure to engage at the political level and a willingness to accept instead token assent to the strategy. The consequence for hospitals has been an impasse. Hospitals do not meet elite expectations but neither do resources reach the larger population.
- Subjects
SUB-Saharan Africa; AFRICA; HOSPITALS; 20TH century African history; 20TH century medical history; HEALTH care reform; POSTCOLONIALISM; COLONIAL Africa; MEDICAL assistance; GOVERNMENT policy
- Publication
Social History of Medicine, 2009, Vol 22, Issue 2, p341
- ISSN
0951-631X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/shm/hkp007