TY - CHAP AB - 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. VL - 10 SN - 978-1-84855-215-9, 978-1-84855-214-2/1057-6290 DO - 10.1016/S1057-6290(08)10001-8 UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/S1057-6290(08)10001-8 AU - Chambré Susan M. AU - Goldner Melinda ED - Susan M. Chambré ED - Melinda Goldner PY - 2008 Y1 - 2008/01/01 TI - Introduction T2 - Patients, Consumers and Civil Society T3 - Advances in Medical Sociology PB - Emerald Group Publishing Limited SP - xi EP - xix Y2 - 2024/03/29 ER -