http://siteresources.worldbank.org/HEALTHNUTRITIONANDPOPULATION/Resources/281627-1095698140167/Preker-TheEconomicsOfPublic-whole.pdf

International experience indicates that the underlying cause of most threats to good health are well known today, and affordable drugs, surgeries and other interventions are often available, even in low-income countries. But, because of weakness in one or more of three core functions of health systems-financing, generation of inputs, and provision of services- potentially effective policies and programs often fail to reach the poor. From Centuries of Minimalism … Ideological views on the roles of the state and the private sector belong to a long list of false antitheses in the field of medicine and health care. Since the beginning of written history, the pendulum has swung back and forth between minimalist and heavy-handed state involvement in the health sector. (Au)