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<div class="gmail_quote">From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC)</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ruglucia@paho.org">ruglucia@paho.org</a>></span><br>crossposted fom: <a href="mailto:EQUIDAD@listserv.paho.org">EQUIDAD@listserv.paho.org</a><br>
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<h2 style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><b><font face="Arial" color="maroon" size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: maroon; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Toward international primary care reform</span></font></b></h2>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Barbara Starfield, University Distinguished Professor, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. <br>
<b><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">CMAJ • May 26, 2009; 180 (11). doi:10.1503/cmaj.090542.</span></b></span></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Available online at: <a href="http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/180/11/1091?etoc" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="COLOR: navy">http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/180/11/1091?etoc</span></font></a> </span></font></p>

<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">“….Primary care reform is now a worldwide imperative. Nationalhealth care systems with strong primary care infrastructureshave healthier populations, fewer health-related disparitiesand lower overall costs for health care. ^{<a href="http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/180/11/1091?etoc#R1-3%23R1-3" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="COLOR: navy">1</span></font></a>} In the World HealthOrganization’s 2008 World Health Report, ^{<a href="http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/180/11/1091?etoc#R2-3%23R2-3" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="COLOR: navy">2</span></font></a>} all countrieswere encouraged to orient their health care systems toward strengthenedprimary care. Such reforms are unlikely to improve overall populationhealth, equalize distribution of health care resources or reducecosts unless they address both the systemic and clinical characteristicsof primary care. ^{<a href="http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/180/11/1091?etoc#R3-3%23R3-3" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="COLOR: navy">3</span></font></a> …..”}</span></font></p>
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