Las Políticas de Salud y su Impacto en los Sectores Populares. Chile 1974-1986

Abstract

The information about public health expenditure is analysed; special attention is given to its evolution, its relation to economic growth and its redistributive character. In addition, the privatization process of the NHS and the transfer of health costo to users are studied in an attempt to identify the way the health reforms have produced a greater fragmentation in the quality of health care and what specific medical care and services Chileans receive according to their incomes. Finally, the health programs that have been carried out and their results are reviewed. We focus our attention on the impact of health and nutritional politics on: a) school-age children, young adults and adolescent groups that have been particularly unattended by these programs and b) maternal-child group, which has been defined as priority by the health authorities. The analysis covers the 1974-1986 period, in which important structural changes in the health system occurred.