Six Seconds Per Eyelid : the medical inspection of inmigrants at Ellis Island, 1892-1914

Beginning in 1892, immigrants to the United States were subject to a medical inspection, created to restrict the entry of persons with a eloathsome or dangerous contagiousn disease or mental deficiency. Ellis Island, which received over 10 million newcomers between 1900 and 1914, served as the largest ever medical screening facility. Far from reflecting a unified policy, the medical inspection offered a complicated compromise amidst a swirl of competing interests. Many industrialists blamed the waves of Southern and Eastern European immigrants for urban joblessness, filth, unrest, overcrowding, and disease. In an era of depression, labor groups opposed immigrant competitors for scarce jobs. Nativists believed immigrants could not overcome their defects because these were genetically transmitted. Germ theory proponents recognized communication of microorganisms as the problem, with controlling the spread of infections as the solution. Many Progressive reformers held that the scientific screening of immigrants offered a systematic solution for the disorder. Dozens of immigrant aid societies struggled to attenuate the effects of the inspection, and as depression subsided after 1900, employers, too, favored the influx of immigrants. This paper examines the social and political basis for the inspection, its realization at Ellis Island, and the reasons for its inability to debar large numbers of immigrants

Buscando desesperadamente la descentralización : las políticas de salud mexicanas en dos épocas de reforma (los años 20 y 30 y la década de los 80)

Este trabajo compara las reformas de salud en México durante las décadas de los 1920 y 1930, con las políticas que se iniciaron en ese país hacia mediados de la década de los 1980. Las primeras fueron apoyadas por la Fundación Rockefeller que favoreció la formación de unidades cooperativas locales de salud. En los ochenta el gobierno Mexicano y agencias financieras internacionales, como el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, promovieron reformas con el fin de reducir el gasto público en salud (como parte de las políticas de «ajuste estructural»). Una de las hipótesis de este trabajo es que al final, las reformas de salud no pudieron superar los obstáculos políticos de la centralización del poder fiscal y de la tradición de inequidad en la distribución de recursos. Sin embargo, uno de los resultados no esperados de la descentralización fue el incremento de la capacidad local de demandar una mayor redistribución de servicios sociales

Buscando desesperadamente la descentralización: las políticas de salud mexicanas en dos épocas de reforma (los años 20 y 30 y la década de los 80)

Este trabajo compara las reformas de salud en México durante las décadas de los 1920 y 1930, con las políticas que se iniciaron en ese país hacia mediados de la década de los 1980. Las primeras fueron apoyadas por la Fundación Rockefeller que favoreció la formación de unidades cooperativas locales de salud. En los ochenta el gobierno Mexicano y agencias financieras internacionales, como el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, promovieron reformas con el fin de reducir el gasto público en salud (como parte de las políticas de «ajuste estructural»). Una de las hipótesis de este trabajo es que al final, las reformas de salud no pudieron superar los obstáculos políticos de la centralización del poder fiscal y de la tradición de inequidad en la distribución de recursos. Sin embargo, uno de los resultados no esperados de la descentralización fue el incremento de la capacidad local de demandar una mayor redistribución de servicios sociales

Canada’s health care system: A relevant approach for South Africa?

Background. While countries such as the USA, South Africa and China debate health reforms to improve access to care while rationalising costs, Canada’s health care system has emerged as a notable option. In the USA, meaningful discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the Canadian system has been thwarted by ideological mudslinging on the part of large insurance companies seeking to preserve their ultra-profitable turf and backed by conservative political forces stirring up old fears of ‘socialised medicine’. These distractions have relegated the possibility of a ‘public option’ to the legislative dustbin, leaving tens of millions of people to face uninsurance, under-insurance, bankruptcy and unnecessary death and suffering, even after passage of the Obama health plan. While South Africa appears to experience similar legislative paralysis, there remains room for reasoned health reform debate to address issues of equity, access, and financing. Objective. Our aim is to contribute to the debate from a Canadian perspective, setting out the basic principles of Medicare (Canada’s health care system), reviewing its advantages and challenges, clarifying misunderstandings, and exploring its relevance to South Africa. We periodically refer to the USA because of the similarities to the South African situation, including its health care system, which mirrors South Africa’s current position if left unchanged. Conclusion. While Medicare is neither flawless nor a model worthy of wholesale imitation, we contend that open discussion of Canada’s experience is a useful component in South Africa’s current policy and political efforts

Filantropo-capitalismo estadunidense e a agenda da saúde global: as fundações Rockefeller e Gates, passado e presente

A Saúde Global, na contemporaneidade, é fortemente marcada por questões econômicas e geopolíticas que, frequentemente, colocam à prova os principais objetivos das Instituições responsáveis pela sua manutenção e manejo. De certo modo, tais questões sempre foram vistas de modo articulado, dada a história das agências responsáveis pela saúde em nível internacional. Assim, duas importantes Fundações – Rockefeller e Bill e Melinda Gates – tiveram/tem importante participação no redirecionamento das ações em Saúde e, principalmente, no que se refere às lógicas de investimento em saúde ligadas à filantropia. Partindo disto, neste texto, a partir de revisão bibliográfica e documental, são discutidas as participações das Fundações em diferentes momentos históricos e as questões emergentes daquilo que chamamos de filantropo-capitalismo. Neste sentido, problematizamos os meios pelos quais tais Fundações interferem na lógica da gestão pública e/ou privada da Saúde Global com o objetivo de alertar sobre a necessidade de atenção acerca das atuais ações e campanhas de saúde financiadas pelo setor privado. Destaca-se, principalmente a quantidade de investidas na indústria farmacêutica em detrimento da melhoria da qualidade de vida e do cumprimento dos direitos humanos fundamentais