“La incorporación del análisis económico al sector salud en países latinoamericanos”. Primera parte: principales aportes y aspectos a considerar

Abstract

The ongoing increase of health care expenditures, the upsurge of more and varied health needs, the scarcity of resources for health care coverage and the need to set priorities within a gamut of possible alternatives of action, lead to the undeferrable necessity to include economic analysis in the quest for solutions to health problems plaguing Latin America. In this context, we highlight these problems to urge health care workers, namely leaders and decision makers, to speed up the inclusion of economic analysis into the health sector. This paper, the first of two parts, includes the main contributions and aspects to consider of economic analysis to be taken into account for its inclusion into the health sector. The second part outlines the nine main areas of practical application of economic analysis to health care problems.