Health Systems

I’ve lived a mostly healthy and illness-free life. Still, hospitals are at the center of many of my most important life experiences.

Where do you go when hit with a serious medical condition? “The hospital!” is an obvious answer for people in high income countries, but for people in low-income and emerging market economies, access to a proper hospital is often just a dream. Why are decent hospitals in the developing w...

More than six months into the worst Ebola outbreak in history, President Obama made the welcome announcement that the US would dramatically step up efforts and lead the global response to combat the deadly disease in West Africa. 

Good news stories in global health rarely dominate the headlines; it can be easy to lose sight of the progress being made by global health investments and efforts around the world.

The US Government has taken action to respond to the devastating Ebola epidemic in West Africa: about 100 CDC staffers have been deployed, $100 million spent on medical supplies and training, and an additional $75 million planned for 1,000 beds and 130,000 protective suits. 

It’s too early to know how large the economic impact of Ebola will be on West Africa and the world. Past experience, including the 2002-03 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic, suggest it could be very large indeed, especially in the African countries that have been hardest h...

As the Ebola outbreak in West Africa persists, some parallels are being drawn between the virus and HIV/AIDS.