Introduction

Abstract

Health care systems all over the world are undergoing rapid and profound transformations. These changes are the result of a broad array of economic and social trends including neo-liberal economic policies that are contributing to the trend toward privatization, the commodification of health services and products, institutional restructuring (e.g., managed care) to contain costs in the context of technological advances, globalization and demographic changes such as population aging in post-industrial societies. Questions about the accessibility and quality of health care delivery in the face of persistent health disparities, growing numbers of medical errors, and new and uncertain risks posed by emerging infectious diseases, some of them drug-resistant, have also contributed to rethinking about health policy.

Citation

Chambré, S.M. and Goldner, M. (2008), "Introduction", Chambré, S.M. and Goldner, M. (Ed.) Patients, Consumers and Civil Society (Advances in Medical Sociology, Vol. 10), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. xi-xix. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1057-6290(08)10001-8