A comparative study of healthcare policy in Africa, the book explores the impact of historical institutions, multilateral organizations, and informal norms, such as, respectively, colonialism, the World Health Organization, and the Western-inspired biomedical approach to disease on health policy choices, implementation, and results in Africa. In addition, it examines the role of international philanthropy, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Partners In Health, Doctors Without Borders, and the multitude of NGOs that pullulate the African healthcare landscape. The emphasis on these (f)actors, not to mention Cuban medical aid, clearly underscores the “globalization” of healthcare policy in Africa. The case studies of Botswana, Ghana, and Rwanda —three differently endowed countries economically that are also at varying stages of democratic rule— help to shed light on the influence of domestic political institutions and elite agency on healthcare policy processes across the continent.

This book features new research on the history of apartheid South Africa’s former bantustans and their legacies in the modern world. With an introduction by renowned historian William Beinart, the individual chapters, written by a new generation of scholars, address a number of themes: public administration (health and education); culture, ethnicity, and politics; ethnic nationalism; historiographical reflections; and personal recollections by three former public servants. This book was originally published as a special issue of the South African Historical Journal.

Comparative Health Systems: Global Perspectives explores the health systems of 17 countries through comparative study. Using a consistent framework, the chapters offer an overview of each countrys history, geography, government, and economy, as well as a detailed analysis of the countrys healthcare system facilities, workforce, technology, cost, quality, and access. Current and emerging issues are also explored. The book concludes with a look at the changing U.S. healthcare system and the global challenges and opportunities for health.

During the apartheid era, thousands of South African political activists, militants, and refugees fled arrest by crossing into neighbouring southern African countries. Although they had escaped political oppression, many required medical attention during their period of exile. An Ambulance on Safari describes the efforts of the African National Congress (ANC) to deliver emergency healthcare to South African exiles and, in the same stroke, to establish political legitimacy and foster anti-apartheid sentiment on an international stage. Banned in South Africa from 1960 to 1990, the ANC continued its operations underground in anticipation of eventual political victory, styling itself as a "government in waiting." In 1977 it created its own Health Department, which it presented as an alternative medical service and the nucleus of a post-apartheid healthcare system. By publicizing its own democratic policies as well as the racist practices of healthcare delivery in South Africa, the Health Department won international attention for its cause and provoked widespread condemnation of the apartheid state. While the global campaign was unfolding successfully, the department's provision of healthcare on the ground was intermittent as patients confronted a fledgling medical system experiencing various growing pains. Still, the legacy of the department would be long, as many medical professionals who joined the post-apartheid Department of Health in South Africa had been trained in exile during the liberation struggle. With careful attention to both the international publicity campaign and on-the-ground medical efforts, An Ambulance on Safari reveals the intricate and significant political role of the ANC's Health Department and its influence on the anti-apartheid movement.

This book explores the multifaceted dynamics between state and non-state actors in public policy during and after conflict in the Middle East and Africa. It offers case studies and policy-relevant ideas for conflict-affected areas to move forward in a more sustainable manner. Following the Arab Spring revolutions, civil wars have plagued the Middle East and North Africa region, along with other countries in Africa. The task of rebuilding peace and institutionalizing stability in conflict-affected countries or fragile states emerging from conflict is a daunting, uncertain, and context-specific task. Yet, focusing on understanding conflicts in the Middle East and Africa offers an important view of the role of non-state actors during conflicts. These regions feature the highest numbers of inter- and intra-state conflicts, and the governments are more often contested than in the rest of the world. The volume proposes different cases addressing the fundamental challenge of inclusion and cohesion of nonstate actors during conflicts. By providing a comprehensive exploration of diverse perspectives, it empowers readers to engage with the pressing issues facing these regions. This is a useful resource for students and researchers in public policy and governance studies, development studies and NGOs, and Middle East and African Studies.

This book is the first of its kind about healthcare reform efforts in Kazakhstan since its independence within the context of the public sector reform movement. The book provides a brief background of Kazakhstan and its Soviet legacy and the country’s efforts to modernize the health system, before creating an overview of the existing system, the reforms since independence, and the future of healthcare in Kazakhstan. This book will be of interest to policymakers, analysts, and development economists.

The Africa Yearbook covers major domestic political developments, the foreign policy and socio-economic trends in sub-Sahara Africa – all related to developments in one calendar year. The Yearbook contains articles on all sub-Saharan states, each of the four sub-regions (West, Central, Eastern, Southern Africa) focusing on major cross-border developments and sub-regional organizations as well as one article on continental developments and one on African-European relations. While the articles have thorough academic quality, the Yearbook is mainly oriented to the requirements of a large range of target groups: students, politicians, diplomats, administrators, journalists, teachers, practitioners in the field of development aid as well as business people.