Helsepolitikk

A health care system encompasses the resources, organizations and institutions that deliver health care to the population. A fundamental policy goal is universal access to services. On this background this course will discuss different types of health systems with emphasis on policy issues such as:
- Health care financing; including mechanisms for revenue collection and pooling
- Organization of health care; including primary vs. specialized care, centralized vs. decentralized systems and private vs. public solutions
- Cost-effectiveness analysis of health care interventions; including principles for economic evaluation and the special challenges facing low and middle income countries.
- Economic incentives and provider payment

After completing the course PH3004 the student is familiar with a broad typology of health systems, as well as different models for organization, provision and evaluation of health care.

The student is able to:
- describe health systems in LMI countries in terms of their strengths and weaknesses;
- describe and discuss policy initiatives in terms of their potential positive and negative impacts;
- discuss special challenges related to health policy and health systems in LMI countries;
- understand the motivation for specific policy initiatives, and to assess their potential implications on quality, efficiency and equity;
- understand the major health policy issues and initiatives, and the relevance of these for design and implementation of health policy in LMI countries.

Lectures, workshops, group-based assignments. The language of teaching and examination is English.