Public Health in the Americas

Public Health in the Americas
Author: Pan American Health Organization
Publisher: Pan American Health Org
Total Pages: 326
Release: 2002
Genre: America
ISBN: 9275115893

This book describes the principal conceptual, methodological, and empirical developments stemming from PAHO and WHO's institutional efforts in public health, which have entailed the broad and committed participation of the Member States. It provides and overview of the status of Essential Public Health Functions (EPHF) in 41 countries and territories of the Americas, based on self-evaluation exercises performed by health authorities to measure their performance.

Social Panorama of Latin America 2020

Social Panorama of Latin America 2020
Author: United Nations Publications
Publisher: UN
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2021-07-29
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9789211220698

This publication examines the social impact of an unprecedented crisis. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have spread to all areas of human life, altering the way we interact, crippling economies and bringing about profound changes in societies. The pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated the major structural gaps in the region, and it is clear that the costs of inequality have become unsustainable and that it is necessary to rebuild with equality and sustainability, aiming for the creation of a true welfare state, long overdue in the region.

Saving for Development

Saving for Development
Author: Inter-American Development Bank
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2016-07-08
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1349949299

Why should people - and economies - save? This book on the savings problem in Latin America and the Caribbean suggests that, while saving to survive the bad times is important, saving to thrive in the good times is what really counts. People must save to invest in health and education, live productive and fulfilling lives, and make the most of their retirement years. Firms must save to grow their enterprises, employ more workers in better jobs, and produce quality goods. Governments must save to build the infrastructure required by a productive economy, provide quality services to their citizens, and assure their senior citizens a dignified, worry-free retirement. In short, countries must save not for the proverbial rainy day, but for a sunny day - a time when everyone can bask in the benefits of growth, prosperity, and well-being. This book is open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO license.

Innovative Mental Health Programs in Latin America and the Caribbean

Innovative Mental Health Programs in Latin America and the Caribbean
Author: Jose Miguel Caldas de Almeida
Publisher: Pan Amer Health Org
Total Pages: 111
Release: 2008
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9789275129067

"Each experience described here has its own history, as can be seen in each one of the chapters. Yet, all of them are part of a single reform process with shared historical roots and influences ... As proved by the experiences included in this book, a great deal can be learned from mental health reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean. On the one hand, each initiative developed truly original and innovative solutions for some of the problems usually encountered in the reform processes. Obviously, many of the innovative solutions can be applied in those countries that are at a similar stage of development as the Latin American and Caribbean countries where the reported experiences took place. However, many of these innovations also can be useful to any country interested in reforming its mental health services, regardless of the country's degree of development. I also believe that the reform of mental health services in Latin America and the Caribbean--given specific aspects such as the dynamic following the Caracas Declaration and the impact of international cooperation--help us to better understand the real importance of some factors, such as social and political aspects and international cooperation, in implementing mental health service reforms."--p. iv.

At a Crossroads

At a Crossroads
Author: María Marta Ferreyra
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 387
Release: 2017-05-18
Genre: Education
ISBN: 146481015X

"Higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean has expanded dramatically in the past 15 years, as the average gross enrollment rate has more than doubled, and many new institutions and programs have been opened. Although higher education access has become more equitable, and higher education supply has become more varied, many of the 'new' students in the system are, on average, less academically ready than are their more advantaged counterparts. Furthermore, only half of higher education students, on average, complete their degree, and labor market returns to higher education vary greatly across institutions and programs. Thus, higher education is at a crossroads today. Given the region's urgency to raise productivity in a low-growth, fiscally constrained environment, going past this crossroads requires the formation of skilled human capital fast and efficiently. 'At a Crossroads: Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean' contributes to the discussion by studying quality, variety, and equity of higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean. The book presents comprehensive evidence on the recent higher education expansion and evolution of higher education labor market returns. Using novel data and state-of-the-art methods, it studies demand and supply drivers of the recent expansion. It investigates the behavior of institutions and students and explores the unintended consequences of large-scale higher education policies. Framing the analysis are the singular characteristics of the higher education market and the market segmentation induced by the variety of students and institutions in the system. At this crossroads, a role emerges for incentives, information, accountability, and choice."

Remittances and Development

Remittances and Development
Author: Pablo Fajnzylber
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 410
Release: 2008-02-08
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0821368710

Workers' remittances have become a major source of financing for developing countries and are especially important in Latin America and the Caribbean, which is at the top of the ranking of remittance receiving regions in the world. While there has been a recent surge in analytical work on the topic, this book is motivated by the large heterogeneity in migration and remittance patterns across countries and regions, and by the fact that existing evidence for Latin America and the Caribbean is restricted to only a few countries, such as Mexico and El Salvador. Because the nature of the phenomenon varies across countries, its development impact and policy implications are also likely to differ in ways that are still largely unknown. This book helps fill the gap by exploring, in the specific context of Latin America and Caribbean countries, some of the main questions faced by policymakers when trying to respond to increasing remittances flows. The book relies on cross-country panel data and household surveys for 11 Latin American countries to explore the development impact of remittance flows along several dimensions: growth, poverty, inequality, schooling, health, labor supply, financial development, and real exchange rates.

Digitalization in Healthcare

Digitalization in Healthcare
Author: Patrick Glauner
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2021-03-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3030658961

Digital technologies are currently dramatically changing healthcare. This book introduces the reader to the latest digital innovations in healthcare in fields such as artificial intelligence, points out new ways in patient care and describes the limits of its application. It also offers essential guidance in the form of structured and authoritative contributions by domain experts spanning from artificial intelligence to hospital management to radiology to dentistry to preventive medicine. Furthermore, it shares ideas and experiences of industry veterans, in particular on how IT-driven solutions could solve long-standing issues in the fields of healthcare and hospitalization. It also gives advice on what new digital technologies to consider for becoming a healthcare market leader in the future. Taken together, these contributions provide a “road map” to guide decision makers, physicians, academics, industry representatives and other interested readers to understand the large impact of digital technology on healthcare today and its enormous potential for future development.

Medicine and Public Health in Latin America

Medicine and Public Health in Latin America
Author: Marcos Cueto
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 317
Release: 2015
Genre: History
ISBN: 110702367X

This book provides a clear, broad, and provocative synthesis of the history of Latin American medicine.

Biological Control in Latin America and the Caribbean

Biological Control in Latin America and the Caribbean
Author: Joop C. van Lenteren
Publisher: CABI
Total Pages: 552
Release: 2019-12-21
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1789242436

The book summarizes the history of biological control in Latin America and the Caribbean. Few publications provide historical detail and the records are, therefore, fragmented until now. By bringing information together in this book, we offer a more complete picture of important developments in biological control on this continent. There are a wealth of text, tables and references about the history of such projects, and which were succesful and which failed. This will help plan future biocontrol projects. An overview is provided of the current situation in biological control for many Latin American and Caribbean countries, revealing an astonishing level of practical biological control applied in the regio, making it the largest area under biological control worldwide. The final part describes new developments and speculates about the future of biological control in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Achieving Effective Social Protection for All in Latin America and the Caribbean

Achieving Effective Social Protection for All in Latin America and the Caribbean
Author: Helena Ribe
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 140
Release: 2010-06-22
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 082138399X

This study highlights the interaction between social protection programs and labor markets in the Latin America region. It presents new evidence on the limited coverage of existing programs and emphasizes the challenges caused by high informality for achieving universal social protection for old age income, for health, for unemployment risks and for anti poverty safety nets. It identifies interaction effects between SP programs and the behavioral responses of workers, firms and social protection providers, which can further undermine efforts to expand coverage, summarizing evidence from recent work across the region. It argues for a re-design of financing to eliminate cross subsidies between members of contributory programs and subsidies that effectively tax income from formal employment. Instead, it advocates well-targeted, tax-funded tapered subsidies to provide incentives to the savings efforts of low income workers, coupled with an effective safety net for the extreme poor who have no capacity to contribute to financing their own social protection arrangements. It also argues for the consolidation of programs and harmonization of benefits packages across different insurers. The book develops an overall conceptual framework and presents in-depth analysis of the main SP sectors of pensions, health, unemployment insurance and safety net transfers.