The 2nd HPD report - Health Policy Monitor

Introduction
This second issue of “Health Policy Developments” pays special
attention to three concurrent health policy topics, all of them high
on health policy agendas in a variety of developed countries:
– Health and aging
– Pharmaceutical policies
– Human resources and health
While we describe current developments from the reporting period
April through November 2003 in detail on our Web site,
www.healthpolicymonitor.org, we chose a somewhat different
approach to present the findings from the second survey in Issue
2. Criteria for selection were scope, continuity and presence in
public debate during and beyond the reporting period proper.
With this in mind, we looked at topics from the first and the
second survey independently of their present stage of development
or implementation. Some of the case studies—drawn, for
example, from Germany, France, the United States, Australia and
Canada—may offer test cases or model solutions for the same
debates elsewhere.
Finally, in line with the Health Policy Network’s news and
monitoring function, the last chapter follows up on developments
reported in Issue 1/2003, particularly on funding, quality and
coordination of health care services. The Newsflash also gives a
brief overview of key health policy reform in our new network
member country, the Republic of Korea.
The very success of increasingly large numbers of people
living to a respectable seniority raises challenging questions for
communities and policy makers. Throughout the world, the proportion
of older people (65 years or older), and especially that of
17
Health and aging