Private Sector

This essay reviews how cloning techniques may be used for therapeutic purposes, analyzes ethical implications, and makes recommendations for public policy discourse. Although cloning may bring many potential benefits, they remain uncertain. Furthermore, human embryo research is morally problematic. Therefore, alternatives to human cloning for therapeutic aims should be sought at present. In addition to central ethical issues, public discourse should maintain an emphasis on the value of the human embryo over scientific expediency, the relativity of health, and the principle of justice.

As more Catholic hospitals have become acquisition targets by for-profit companies, the nation's largest Catholic system wants to keep more facilities in the fold. Ascension Health has teamed with a private-equity firm to do just that. But "can a for-profit enterprise that is owned by a private-equity firm pursue and live the ministry of Jesus in providing healthcare?" asks Seton Hall law professor Kathleen Boozang, left.

OBJECTIVE: To understand the effects of Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) income eligibility thresholds and premium contribution requirements on health insurance coverage outcomes among children. DATA SOURCES: 2002-2009 Annual Social and Economic Supplements of the Current Population Survey linked to data from multiple secondary data sources. STUDY DESIGN: We use a selection correction model to simultaneously estimate program eligibility and coverage outcomes conditional upon eligibility.

If it is not a naÔve expectation for dentists who have been beneficiaries of public generosity to share their good fortune with the public that made it possible, there may be a rational basis for enhancing the role of dental education in improving access to oral health care by promoting-but not requiring-a voluntary service commitment after graduation commensurate with the magnitude of the subsidy received.

BACKGROUND: Umbilical cord blood is used as a source of hematopoietic stem cells for bone marrow transplantation in the treatment of malignant and nonmalignant disease. We sought to examine pregnant women's knowledge and attitudes regarding cord blood banking, as their support is crucial to the success of cord blood transplant programs. METHODS: A questionnaire examining sociodemographic factors and women's attitudes to cord blood banking was developed on the basis of findings from 2 focus groups and a pilot study.

Medical education stands at the doorstep of profound change, forced to step into an uncertain and potentially hostile new environment. These changes have nothing to do with scholar self-reflection, but rather are a direct consequence of the process of globalization visible also in medical education and the revolution in health care financing for which we use the general term "managed care". On one hand, globalization has penetrated different areas of our life, among others including science, public health and medicine which is a global profession.

PURPOSE: Umbilical cord blood (UCB) stored in public inventories has become an alternative stem cell source for allogeneic stem cell transplantation. The potential use of autologous UCB from private banks is a matter of debate. In the face of the limited resources of public inventories, a discussion on "hybrid" public and private UCB banking has evolved. We aimed to explore the attitudes of the donating parents toward public and private UCB banking.

SETTING: Since 2005, private pharmacies linked to the National Tuberculosis Programme (NTP) and the Municipal Health Department in Phnom Penh have referred tuberculosis (TB) symptomatic patients to public sector TB clinics. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the attitudes and practices of pharmacy-initiated referral service providers in Phnom Penh from 2005 to 2010. METHODS: In a qualitative study, participants were purposively selected from the register of pharmacy owners providing referral services. Discussions were conducted in Khmer by trained facilitators.

BACKGROUND: WHO estimates that only 3% of fever patients use recommended artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), partly reflecting their high prices in the retail sector from where many patients seek treatment. To overcome this challenge, a global ACT subsidy has been proposed. We tested this proposal through a pilot program in rural Tanzania. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Three districts were assigned to serve either as a control or to receive the subsidy plus a package of supporting interventions.

At a recent meeting (Sept 18, 2009) in which reasons for the limited access to artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) in sub-Saharan Africa were discussed, policy and market surveys on anti-malarial drug availability and accessibility in Burundi and Sierra Leone were presented in a highly interactive brainstorming session among key stakeholders across private, public, and not-for-profit sectors. The surveys, the conduct of which directly involved the national malaria control programme managers of the two countries, provides the groundwork for evidence-based policy implementation.