The area of a nation's economy that is tax-supported and under government control.

That distinct portion of the institutional, industrial, or economic structure of a country that is controlled or owned by non-governmental, private interests.

Economic sector concerned with the provision, distribution, and consumption of health care services and related products.

Process of shifting publicly controlled services and/or facilities to the private sector.

A republic in southern Africa, the southernmost part of Africa. It has three capitals: Pretoria (administrative), Cape Town (legislative), and Bloemfontein (judicial). Officially the Republic of South Africa since 1960, it was called the Union of South Africa 1910-1960.

Hospitals controlled by various types of government, i.e., city, county, district, state or federal.

Agreements between two or more parties, especially those that are written and enforceable by law (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed). It is sometimes used to characterize the nature of the professional-patient relationship.

Practice of a health profession by an individual, offering services on a person-to-person basis, as opposed to group or partnership practice.

Drugs considered essential to meet the health needs of a population as well as to control drug costs.

An organizational enterprise between a public sector agency, federal, state or local, and a private sector entity. Skills and assets of each sector are shared to deliver a service or facility for the benefit or use of the general public.

Countries in the process of change with economic growth, that is, an increase in production, per capita consumption, and income. The process of economic growth involves better utilization of natural and human resources, which results in a change in the social, political, and economic structures.

Health care services related to human REPRODUCTION and diseases of the reproductive system. Services are provided to both sexes and usually by physicians in the medical or the surgical specialties such as REPRODUCTIVE MEDICINE; ANDROLOGY; GYNECOLOGY; OBSTETRICS; and PERINATOLOGY.

Management of public health organizations or agencies.

A class of hospitals that includes profit or not-for-profit hospitals that are controlled by a legal entity other than a government agency. (Hospital Administration Terminology, AHA, 2d ed)

The remuneration paid or benefits granted to an employee.

Federal, state, or local government organized methods of financial assistance.

Decisions, usually developed by government policymakers, for determining present and future objectives pertaining to the health care system.

A condition in which the HEAD of the FETUS is larger than the mother's PELVIS through which the fetal head must pass during a vaginal delivery.

Institutions which provide medical or health-related services.

The concept concerned with all aspects of providing and distributing health services to a patient population.

The degree to which individuals are inhibited or facilitated in their ability to gain entry to and to receive care and services from the health care system. Factors influencing this ability include geographic, architectural, transportational, and financial considerations, among others.

Formal procedures whereby the employee expresses any dissatisfaction or feeling of injustice regarding the work situation.

Innovation and improvement of the health care system by reappraisal, amendment of services, and removal of faults and abuses in providing and distributing health services to patients. It includes a re-alignment of health services and health insurance to maximum demographic elements (the unemployed, indigent, uninsured, elderly, inner cities, rural areas) with reference to coverage, hospitalization, pricing and cost containment, insurers' and employers' costs, pre-existing medical conditions, prescribed drugs, equipment, and services.

Health insurance coverage for all persons in a state or country, rather than for some subset of the population. It may extend to the unemployed as well as to the employed; to aliens as well as to citizens; for pre-existing conditions as well as for current illnesses; for mental as well as for physical conditions.

A republic in southern Africa, south of TANZANIA, east of ZAMBIA and ZIMBABWE, bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean. Its capital is Maputo. It was formerly called Portuguese East Africa.

Individuals responsible for the development of policy and supervision of the execution of plans and functional operations.

The amounts spent by individuals, groups, nations, or private or public organizations for total health care and/or its various components. These amounts may or may not be equivalent to the actual costs (HEALTH CARE COSTS) and may or may not be shared among the patient, insurers, and/or employers.

A republic in southern Africa, southwest of DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO and west of ZAMBIA. Its capital is Luanda.

Planning, organizing, and administering all activities related to personnel.

Statistical measures of utilization and other aspects of the provision of health care services including hospitalization and ambulatory care.

The capacity of an organization, institution, or business to produce desired results with a minimum expenditure of energy, time, money, personnel, materiel, etc.

The decision process by which individuals, groups or institutions establish policies pertaining to plans, programs or procedures.

The interchange of goods or commodities, especially on a large scale, between different countries or between populations within the same country. It includes trade (the buying, selling, or exchanging of commodities, whether wholesale or retail) and business (the purchase and sale of goods to make a profit). (From Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed, p411, p2005 & p283)

Introduction of changes which are new to the organization and are created by management.

The actual costs of providing services related to the delivery of health care, including the costs of procedures, therapies, and medications. It is differentiated from HEALTH EXPENDITURES, which refers to the amount of money paid for the services, and from fees, which refers to the amount charged, regardless of cost.

The availability of HEALTH PERSONNEL. It includes the demand and recruitment of both professional and allied health personnel, their present and future supply and distribution, and their assignment and utilization.

The promotion and maintenance of physical and mental health in the work environment.

Components of a national health care system which administer specific services, e.g., national health insurance.

A situation in which the level of living of an individual, family, or group is below the standard of the community. It is often related to a specific income level.

Place or physical location of work or employment.

The levels of excellence which characterize the health service or health care provided based on accepted standards of quality.

The integration of epidemiologic, sociological, economic, and other analytic sciences in the study of health services. Health services research is usually concerned with relationships between need, demand, supply, use, and outcome of health services. The aim of the research is evaluation, particularly in terms of structure, process, output, and outcome. (From Last, Dictionary of Epidemiology, 2d ed)

An absence from work permitted because of illness or the number of days per year for which an employer agrees to pay employees who are sick. (Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, 1981)

Men and women working in the provision of health services, whether as individual practitioners or employees of health institutions and programs, whether or not professionally trained, and whether or not subject to public regulation. (From A Discursive Dictionary of Health Care, 1976)

Health services, public or private, in rural areas. The services include the promotion of health and the delivery of health care.

Activities concerned with governmental policies, functions, etc.

A republic in eastern Africa, south of UGANDA, east of DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO, west of TANZANIA. Its capital is Kigali. It was formerly part of the Belgian trust territory of Ruanda-Urund.

Branch of medicine concerned with the prevention and control of disease and disability, and the promotion of physical and mental health of the population on the international, national, state, or municipal level.

Facilities for the preparation and dispensing of drugs.

Agents used to treat RETROVIRIDAE INFECTIONS.

Organized services to provide health care to expectant and nursing mothers.

The geographical area of Africa comprising BENIN; BURKINA FASO; COTE D'IVOIRE; GAMBIA; GHANA; GUINEA; GUINEA-BISSAU; LIBERIA; MALI; MAURITANIA; NIGER; NIGERIA; SENEGAL; SIERRA LEONE; and TOGO.

Conversations with an individual or individuals held in order to obtain information about their background and other personal biographical data, their attitudes and opinions, etc. It includes school admission or job interviews.

Studies designed to assess the efficacy of programs. They may include the evaluation of cost-effectiveness, the extent to which objectives are met, or impact.

A republic in southern Africa, south of DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO and TANZANIA, and north of ZIMBABWE. Its capital is Lusaka. It was formerly called Northern Rhodesia.

Descriptions and evaluations of specific health care organizations.

Differences in access to or availability of medical facilities and services.

The state of being engaged in an activity or service for wages or salary.

The amount that a health care institution or organization pays for its drugs. It is one component of the final price that is charged to the consumer (FEES, PHARMACEUTICAL or PRESCRIPTION FEES).

Includes the spectrum of human immunodeficiency virus infections that range from asymptomatic seropositivity, thru AIDS-related complex (ARC), to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Systematic gathering of data for a particular purpose from various sources, including questionnaires, interviews, observation, existing records, and electronic devices. The process is usually preliminary to statistical analysis of the data.

Diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive health services provided for individuals in the community.

A republic in western Africa, south of SENEGAL and west of GUINEA. Its capital is Bissau.

Chronic absence from work or other duty.

Organized services to provide mental health care.

Predetermined sets of questions used to collect data - clinical data, social status, occupational group, etc. The term is often applied to a self-completed survey instrument.

A protozoan disease caused in humans by four species of the PLASMODIUM genus: PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM; PLASMODIUM VIVAX; PLASMODIUM OVALE; and PLASMODIUM MALARIAE; and transmitted by the bite of an infected female mosquito of the genus ANOPHELES. Malaria is endemic in parts of Asia, Africa, Central and South America, Oceania, and certain Caribbean islands. It is characterized by extreme exhaustion associated with paroxysms of high FEVER; SWEATING; shaking CHILLS; and ANEMIA. Malaria in ANIMALS is caused by other species of plasmodia.

Those facilities which administer health services to individuals who do not require hospitalization or institutionalization.

The inhabitants of rural areas or of small towns classified as rural.

Diseases caused by factors involved in one's employment.

Available manpower, facilities, revenue, equipment, and supplies to produce requisite health care and services.

Social and economic factors that characterize the individual or group within the social structure.

Statistical models of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, as well as of financial considerations. For the application of statistics to the testing and quantifying of economic theories MODELS, ECONOMETRIC is available.

A group of SESQUITERPENES and their analogs that contain a peroxide group (PEROXIDES) within an oxepin ring (OXEPINS).

Health services required by a population or community as well as the health services that the population or community is able and willing to pay for.

A republic in southern Africa east of ZAMBIA and MOZAMBIQUE. Its capital is Lilongwe. It was formerly called Nyasaland.

Services for the diagnosis and treatment of disease and the maintenance of health.

Absolute, comparative, or differential costs pertaining to services, institutions, resources, etc., or the analysis and study of these costs.

Studies in which the presence or absence of disease or other health-related variables are determined in each member of the study population or in a representative sample at one particular time. This contrasts with LONGITUDINAL STUDIES which are followed over a period of time.

The seeking and acceptance by patients of health service.

Care which provides integrated, accessible health care services by clinicians who are accountable for addressing a large majority of personal health care needs, developing a sustained partnership with patients, and practicing in the context of family and community. (JAMA 1995;273(3):192)

Agents used in the treatment of malaria. They are usually classified on the basis of their action against plasmodia at different stages in their life cycle in the human. (From AMA, Drug Evaluations Annual, 1992, p1585)

Federal program, created by Public Law 89-97, Title XIX, a 1965 amendment to the Social Security Act, administered by the states, that provides health care benefits to indigent and medically indigent persons.

Those actions designed to carry out recommendations pertaining to health plans or programs.

A specialized agency of the United Nations designed as a coordinating authority on international health work; its aim is to promote the attainment of the highest possible level of health by all peoples.

Insurance providing coverage of medical, surgical, or hospital care in general or for which there is no specific heading.

The process of formulating, improving, and expanding educational, managerial, or service-oriented work plans (excluding computer program development).

Revenues or receipts accruing from business enterprise, labor, or invested capital.

Any type of research that employs nonnumeric information to explore individual or group characteristics, producing findings not arrived at by statistical procedures or other quantitative means. (Qualitative Inquiry: A Dictionary of Terms Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1997)

Attitudes of personnel toward their patients, other professionals, toward the medical care system, etc.

Agents used to treat AIDS and/or stop the spread of the HIV infection. These do not include drugs used to treat symptoms or opportunistic infections associated with AIDS.

A republic in eastern Africa, south of ETHIOPIA, west of SOMALIA with TANZANIA to its south, and coastline on the Indian Ocean. Its capital is Nairobi.

A method of comparing the cost of a program with its expected benefits in dollars (or other currency). The benefit-to-cost ratio is a measure of total return expected per unit of money spent. This analysis generally excludes consideration of factors that are not measured ultimately in economic terms. Cost effectiveness compares alternative ways to achieve a specific set of results.

The status during which female mammals carry their developing young (EMBRYOS or FETUSES) in utero before birth, beginning from FERTILIZATION to BIRTH.

Encouraging consumer behaviors most likely to optimize health potentials (physical and psychosocial) through health information, preventive programs, and access to medical care.

Care provided the pregnant woman in order to prevent complications, and decrease the incidence of maternal and prenatal mortality.

An infant during the first month after birth.

Drugs used in the treatment of tuberculosis. They are divided into two main classes: "first-line" agents, those with the greatest efficacy and acceptable degrees of toxicity used successfully in the great majority of cases; and "second-line" drugs used in drug-resistant cases or those in which some other patient-related condition has compromised the effectiveness of primary therapy.

The former British crown colony located off the southeast coast of China, comprised of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon Peninsula, and New Territories. The three sites were ceded to the British by the Chinese respectively in 1841, 1860, and 1898. Hong Kong reverted to China in July 1997. The name represents the Cantonese pronunciation of the Chinese xianggang, fragrant port, from xiang, perfume and gang, port or harbor, with reference to its currents sweetened by fresh water from a river west of it.

Knowledge, attitudes, and associated behaviors which pertain to health-related topics such as PATHOLOGIC PROCESSES or diseases, their prevention, and treatment. This term refers to non-health workers and health workers (HEALTH PERSONNEL).