Health Policy Reform

When John Lister's book Health Policy Reform: Driving the Wrong Way was published in 2005, it was hailed as the definitive critique of market-oriented health care 'reforms' that the World Bank has been promoting at least since 1993. He produced a crucial argument in favour of equity-oriented, rights-based approaches to the design and operation of health systems, in both rich and poor countries alike.

Much has changed since John Lister's first book was published, but the pressure for the introduction of market-based approaches has remained undiminished. Now, in a revised and restructured analysis, Health Policy Reform: Global Health versus Private Profit, John Lister brings his critique of health policy up to date. He continues to question whether the major 'reforms' which have been, and are still being, introduced are driven primarily by the health needs of the wider population or, in fact, by non-health considerations - the financial and political concerns of governments and global institutions. The global economic recession at the end of the first decade of this century adds even more urgency to the need to understand the implications of these trends.
John Lister's writings fill a gap in the literature covering the recent history of healthcare provision and are unique in their global scope. His current volume Health Policy Reform: Global Health versus Private Profit presents the key issues facing health professionals around the world.