PHM-Exch> Article on Syrian Health System

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Matt Anderson <bronxdoc at gmail.com>

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I wanted to share with you an article recently published in Social
Medicine (www.socialmedicine.info) on the health care system in Syria.
It argues that some of the discontent in Syria may be driven by
neo-liberal health care reforms fostered by the international
community and specifically by the European Union. This is not a
perspective one will see in the mainstream media.

  Matt Anderson, Editor, Social Medicine

Syria Neoliberal Reforms in Health Sector Financing: Embedding Unequal
Access? by Kasturi Sen and Waleed al Faisal
Available at:
http://socialmedicine.info/index.php/socialmedicine/article/view/572/1207

Abstract
The recent volatility and uprisings in several countries of the Arab
world have been interpreted by the West solely as a popular demand for
political voice. However, in all the countries of the region,
including those in which there is ongoing violent opposition, the
underlying economic dysfunction speaks for itself. The legacy of
joblessness, food riots, and hunger is commonplace and is most often
related to structural reforms and austerity measures promoted by the
IMF and World Bank. These have played a significant role in
reinforcing the rich-poor divide over the past three decades,
fostering inequality, suffering, social divisions, and discontent,
which are often overlooked by Western observers. In Syria, the state
introduced policies for the liberalization of the economy as early as
2000; these were formalized into the 10th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010).
Economic liberalization has been supported by the European Union with
technical support from the German Technical Cooperation agency (GTZ).
Changes made to the health sector and the labor market include: the
piloting of health insurance schemes to replace universal coverage,
the charging of fees for health services in public hospitals, and job
losses across the board. While the West views discontent in Syria
largely as political, its own role in promoting economic reforms and
social hardship has been largely missed. In large part, discontent in
Syria and in the region as a whole are a part of a phenomenon that has
repeatedly highlighted the failure of policies that aim at rapid
commercialization with little consideration for pre-existing
disparities in wealth and resources. This paper traces some of the
proposed changes to the financing of health care and examines the
implications for access and equity.


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