Follow the Washington debate which launched our new book on the spread of health markets in developing countries via the event Storify.
New book: Transforming health markets
Our new book in the STEPS Centre’s Pathways to Sustainability book series looks at how the challenge of unregulated health markets is being addressed.
Transforming Health Markets in Asia and Africa: Improving quality and access for the poor Edited by Gerald Bloom, Barun Kanjilal, Henry Lucas, David Peters Routledge, August 2012 £22.99
Nature Commentary
A commentary in Nature stemming from the new Health Markets book looks at the challenge of unregulated health markets. These markets are spreading rapidly in low- and middle-income countries, in most cases faster than regulatory frameworks to ensure quality of care and equity in access. Yet international bodies like the World Health Organisation continue to ignore these actors. This is the argument of the commentary, written by Gerry Bloom (STEPS health domain convenor) and David Peters (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health).
The authors argue that the services provided by these informal providers can and must be improved. Recognizing that health markets represent complex adaptive systems, they argue that bringing order to unregulated markets will take more than singular interventions.