The rise of noncommunicable diseases in Latin America and the Caribbean: Challenges for public health policies

Artikel

The health landscape in Latin America and the Caribbean is changing quickly. The region is undergoing a demographic and epidemiological transition in which health problems are highly concentrated on noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). In light of this, the region faces two main challenges: (1) develop cost-effective policies to prevent NCD risk factors, and (2) increase access to quality healthcare in a scenario in which a large share of the labor force is employed in the informal sector. This paper describes both alternative interventions to expand health insurance coverage and their trade-off with labor informality and moral hazard problems. The paper also focuses on obesity as a case example of an NCD, and emphasizes how lack of knowledge along with self-control problems would lead people to make suboptimal decisions related to food consumption, which may later manifest in obesity problems.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Journal: Latin American Economic Review ; ISSN: 2196-436X ; Volume: 24 ; Year: 2015 ; Issue: 1 ; Pages: 1-56 ; Heidelberg: Springer

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Health Behavior ; Health Insurance, Public and Private ; Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
• Subject: Noncommunicable diseases ; Obesity ; Health insurance

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Anauati, Maria Victoria ; Galiani, Sebastian ; Weinschelbaum, Federico
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Springer
• (where): Heidelberg
• (when): 2015

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.1007/s40503-015-0025-7
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/195227
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET