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Starting in the late 1980s, many Latin American countries began social sector reforms to alleviate poverty, reduce socioeconomic inequalities, improve health outcomes, and provide financial risk protection. In particular, starting in the 1990s, reforms aimed at strengthening health systems to reduce inequalities in health access and outcomes focused on expansion of universal health coverage, especially for poor citizens. In Latin America, health-system reforms have produced a distinct approach to universal health coverage, underpinned by the principles of equity, solidarity, and collective action to overcome social inequalities. In most of the countries studied, government financing enabled the introduction of supply-side interventions to expand insurance coverage for uninsured citizens—with defined and enlarged benefits packages—and to scale up delivery of health services. Countries such as Brazil and Cuba introduced tax-financed universal health systems. These changes were combined with demand-side interventions aimed at alleviating poverty (targeting many social determinants of health) and improving access of the most disadvantaged populations. Hence, the distinguishing features of health-system strengthening for universal health coverage and lessons from the Latin American experience are relevant for countries advancing universal health coverage.

Latin America continues to segregate different social groups into separate health-system segments, including two separate public sector blocks: a well resourced social security for salaried workers and their families and a Ministry of Health serving poor and vulnerable people with low standards of quality and needing a frequently impoverishing payment at point of service. This segregation shows Latin America's longstanding economic and social inequality, cemented by an economic framework that predicted that economic growth would lead to rapid formalisation of the economy. Today, the institutional setup that organises the social segregation in health care is perceived, despite improved life expectancy and other advances, as a barrier to fulfilling the right to health, embodied in the legislation of many Latin American countries. This Series paper outlines four phases in the history of Latin American countries that explain the roots of segmentation in health care and describe three paths taken by countries seeking to overcome it: unification of the funds used to finance both social security and Ministry of Health services (one public payer); free choice of provider or insurer; and expansion of services to poor people and the non-salaried population by making explicit the health-care benefits to which all citizens are entitled.

This article describes the origins and characteristics of an interdisciplinary multinational collaboration aimed at promoting and disseminating actionable evidence on the drivers of health in cities in Latin America and the Caribbean: The Network for Urban Health in Latin America and the Caribbean and the Wellcome Trust funded SALURBAL (Salud Urbana en América Latina, or Urban Health in Latin America) Project. Both initiatives have the goals of supporting urban policies that promote health and health equity in cities of the region while at the same time generating generalizable knowledge for urban areas across the globe. The processes, challenges, as well as the lessons learned to date in launching and implementing these collaborations, are described. By leveraging the unique features of the Latin American region (one of the most urbanized areas of the world with some of the most innovative urban policies), the aim is to produce generalizable knowledge about the links between urbanization, health, and environments and to identify effective ways to organize, design, and govern cities to improve health, reduce health inequalities, and maximize environmental sustainability in cities all over the world. This article describes an ongoing global interdisciplinary collaboration that works to understand health in Latin American and Caribbean cities through research that can inform urban policies that improve health, health equity, and sustainability. The processes, challenges, and lessons learned to date in launching and implementing these collaborations are addressed.

Population ageing and the growing burden of non-communicable diseases are crucial challenges for low-income and middle-income countries, especially because of their effects on the economy and on development and competitiveness indicators. In 2005, WHO urged countries to establish financing insurance mechanisms ensuring equitable universal health coverage. We assessed health coverage for elderly people with non-communicable diseases. We did this cross-sectional analysis of people aged older than 50 years who had non-communicable diseases in six low-income and middle-income countries (China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia, and South Africa) from the WHO Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE) Wave1 (2007–10). We analysed individual and household data for 17 752 participants with regards to doctor visits, treatment, supervision, effectiveness of care, catastrophic health spending, and equitable distribution of health coverage across socioeconomic groups. We estimated weighted population means, and fitted logistic regression models and standardised concentration curves. Effective coverage ranged from 20·7% (95% CI 15·2–27·5) of patients in Mexico to 48·2% (43·9–52·5) in South Africa. Insured patients were significantly more likely to have effective coverage than were uninsured patients in Ghana (odds ratio 1·8, 95% CI 1·4–2·5), India (3·1, 1·9–4·9), and Mexico (3·0, 1·7–5·3). The effect of social determinants on effective coverage varied across countries. Catastrophic health spending ranged from 8·1% (95% CI 5·9–11·2) in South Africa to 45·7% (42·0–49·4) in India, even among people with insurance. Pro-rich inequities existed for effective coverage (except in South Africa) and catastrophic health spending (except in Russia). Health insurance is associated with health coverage in all the countries studied, but it is insufficient to ensure universal health coverage. Differences in effectiveness and equity within and between low-income and middle-income countries relate to the social circumstances in each country, which determine the challenges of achieving universal health coverage. None.

Objectives We estimated the roles of childhood socioeconomic position (ChSEP) and education attainment on chronic diseases in Chilean adults, mediated through structural determinants and health behaviors, to identify potential pro-equity interventions. Methods We analyzed Chile’s longitudinal Social Protection Surveys, a national sample of 14,788 adults with follow-up to 2009. Controlled direct effects (CDE) and natural effects (NDE and NIE) of ChSEP and education on number of chronic diseases were estimated with negative binomial models. Results CDE of low ChSEP with education fixed at 12 years showed a 12% increase with 4% indirect effects. CDEs at favorable levels of BMI, smoking, alcohol use, and physical activity were similar. CDE estimates for education adjusted for ChSEP were larger with negligible mediation. CDEs for women were generally larger. Conclusions Low ChSEP exerts a primarily direct effect on later chronic disease, modestly mediated by education. Education attainment showed larger direct effects with minimal mediation by behaviors. Strengthening current–early child development and education policies, particularly gender aspects, may reduce social inequalities and key pathways for reducing chronic disease inequalities in Chile.

Thus, lessons from Latin America are especially relevant. More than any other part of the world, countries in this region have introduced explicit priority setting to define their health benefit plans. 3,4 Advocates argue that the results are potentially more effective, equitable, transparent, and efficient than are implicit rationing practices, which include waiting lists, quality adjustments, or user fees.

The World Health Organization's Innov8 Approach for Reviewing National Health Programmes to Leave No One Behind is an eight-step process that supports the operationalization of the Sustainable Development Goals' commitment to 'leave no one behind'. In 2014-2015, Innov8 was adapted and applied in Indonesia to review how the national neonatal and maternal health action plans could become more equity-oriented, rights-based and gender-responsive, and better address critical social determinants of health. The process was led by the Indonesian Ministry of Health, with the support of WHO. It involved a wide range of actors and aligned with/fed into the drafting of the maternal newborn health action plan and the implementation planning of the newborn action plan. Key activities included a sensitization meeting, diagnostic checklist, review workshop and in-country work by the review teams. This 'methods forum' article describes this adaptation and application process, the outcomes and lessons learnt. In conjunction with other sources, Innov8 findings and recommendations informed national and sub-national maternal and neonatal action plans and programming to strengthen a 'leave no one behind' approach. As follow-up during 2015-2017, components of the Innov8 methodology were integrated into district-level planning processes for maternal and newborn health, and Innov8 helped generate demand for health inequality monitoring and its use in planning. In Indonesia, Innov8 enhanced national capacity for equity-oriented, rights-based and gender-responsive approaches and addressing critical social determinants of health. Adaptation for the national planning context (e.g. decentralized structure) and linking with health inequality monitoring capacity building were important lessons learnt. The pilot of Innov8 in Indonesia suggests that this approach can help operationalize the SDGs' commitment to leave no one behind, in particular in relation to influencing programming and monitoring and evaluation.

To assess universal health coverage for adults aged 50 years or older with chronic illness in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, the Russian Federation and South Africa. We obtained data on 16,631 participants aged 50 years or older who had at least one diagnosed chronic condition from the World Health Organization Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health. Access to basic chronic care and financial hardship were assessed and the influence of health insurance and rural or urban residence was determined by logistic regression analysis. The weighted proportion of participants with access to basic chronic care ranged from 20.6% in Mexico to 47.6% in South Africa. Access rates were unequally distributed and disadvantaged poor people, except in South Africa where primary health care is free to all. Rural residence did not affect access. The proportion with catastrophic out-of-pocket expenditure for the last outpatient visit ranged from 14.5% in China to 54.8% in Ghana. Financial hardship was more common among the poor in most countries but affected all income groups. Health insurance generally increased access to care but gave insufficient protection against financial hardship. No country provided access to basic chronic care for more than half of the participants with chronic illness. The poor were less likely to receive care and more likely to face financial hardship in most countries. However, inequity of access was not fully determined by the level of economic development or insurance coverage. Future health reforms should aim to improve service quality and increase democratic oversight of health care.

Chile's 'health guarantees' approach to providing universal and equitable coverage for quality healthcare in a dual public-private health system has generated global interest. The programme, called AUGE, defines legally enforceable rights to explicit healthcare benefits for priority health conditions, which incrementally covered 56 problems representing 75% of the disease burden between 2005 and 2009. It was accompanied by other health reform measures to increase public financing and public sector planning to secure the guarantees nationwide, as well as the state's stewardship role. We analysed data from household surveys conducted before and after the AUGE reform to estimate changes in levels of unmet health need, defined as the lack of a healthcare visit for a health problem occurring in the last 30 days, by age, sex, income, education, health insurance, residence and ethnicity; fitting logistic regression models and using predictive margins. The overall prevalence of unmet health need was much lower in 2009 (17.6%, 95% CI: 16.5%, 18.6%) than in 2000 (30.0%, 95% CI: 28.3%, 31.7%). Differences by income and education extremes and rural-urban residence disappeared. In 2009, people who had been in treatment for a condition covered by AUGE in the past year had a lower adjusted prevalence of unmet need for their recent problem (11.7%, 95% CI: 10.5%, 13.2%) than who had not (21.0%, 95% CI: 19.6%, 22.4%). Despite limitations including cross-sectional and self-reported data, our findings suggest that the Chilean health system has become more equitable and responsive to need. While these changes cannot be directly attributed to AUGE, they were coincident with the AUGE reforms. However, healthcare equity concerns are still present, relating to quality of care, health system barriers and differential access for health conditions that are not covered by AUGE.

In 2005, Chile implemented a universal system of health guarantees (AUGE) aimed at improving equitable access to quality medical care for priority health conditions, including acute myocardial infarction (MI). En 2005, Chile implementó un sistema universal de garantías de la salud (AUGE) destinado a mejorar el acceso equitativo al cuidado médico de calidad para las condiciones de salud prioritarias, incluyendo el infarto agudo de miocardio (IM). 智利于2005年实施了一项全国的健康保证制度（AUGE）, 该 制度是针对一些包括急性心肌梗死（MI）在内的健康状况需 要优先治疗的人, 旨在增加他们对有质量保障的医疗服务的平 等接触。