Description
Book SynopsisAt a time when the world's wealthiest nations struggle to make health care and medicine available to everyone, why do resource-constrained countries make costly commitments to universal health coverage and AIDS treatment after transitioning to democracy? Joseph Harris explores the dynamics that made landmark policies possible in Thailand and Brazil but which have led to prolonged struggle and contestation in South Africa. Drawing on firsthand accounts of the people wrestling with these issues, Achieving Access documents efforts to institutionalize universal healthcare and expand access to life-saving medicines in three major industrializing countries.
In comparing two separate but related policy areas, Harris finds that democratization empowers elite professionals, such as doctors and lawyers, to advocate for universal health care and treatment for AIDS. Harris's analysis is situated at the intersection of sociology, political science, and public health and will speak
Trade Review
Through his focus on professional movements at the domestic level, Harris makes new contributions to the literatures on the transnational AIDS movement, democratization and the medical profession's role in health policy.... The book is a major contribution to the study of professionals in (health) politics and timely given the ongoing struggle for universal coverage models in global health institutions.
* Global Affairs *
