2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo

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Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

318036
Neoliberal health reforms and community participation: The case of Turkey


Tuesday, November 3, 2015 : 1:10 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Kayihan Pala, Department of Public Health, Uludag University, Bursa, Turkey
Audio (mp3) recording Recorded Presentation (mp4)
The one of the most important components of health promotion is community participation. The importance of community participation in health care was raised by the Alma-Ata Declaration in 1978. According to the Alma-Ata Declaration community participation should be ensured planning, organization, implementation and supervision of health services at the highest level.

Nowadays, community participation is distanced from the definition in the Alma-Ata Declaration because of neoliberal health reforms.  Citizens cannot take part in decision making process and community financing has been mentioned as a part of the community participation in health services.

Neoliberal health reforms have been implemented taking Health Transformation Program (HTP) name since 2003 in Turkey. Community participation is regulated as a contribution to the financing of health services (prescription fee, surcharge, inpatient bed fee, etc.) by the HTP.

With HTP, user fee in health services only for medical examinations provided by Social Security Institution has increased to 2.132 billion TL in 2012 from 466 million TL in 2009. User fee in health services only for medical examinations increases over the years and in the ratio of household health expenditures exceeds 18% in 2012.

Health Transformation Program should be discussed because of the structure that does not allow to community participation.

Learning Areas:

Administration, management, leadership
Public health administration or related administration
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
Evaluate the community participation concept transformed to community financing by neoliberal health reforms.

Keyword(s): Health Care Reform

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I've a PhD in public health and interest health policy.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4257.0: Neoliberalism and Alternative Visions of the Peoples Health (1)