Описание: This book advances an understanding of cultural diplomacy that examines a single area of government and private sector partnership, and what became in the mid-twentieth century the most prominent manifestation of this alliance-the cultural exhibitions sent abroad to "tell America`s story" with the goal of "winning hearts and minds."
Описание: Over the past three decades, many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have recognized health as a human right. Since the early 2000s, 46 million more people in the countries studied are covered by health programs with explicit entitlements to care. Reforms have been accompanied by a rise in public spending for health, financed largely by general revenues that prioritize or explicitly target the population without capacity to pay. Political commitment has generally translated into larger budgets as well as passage of legislation that ring-fenced funding for health. Most countries have prioritized cost-effective primary care and have adopted purchasing methods that incentivize efficiency and accountability for results and that give stewards of the health sector greater leverage to steer providers to deliver on public health priorities. Despite progress, disparities remain in financing and quality of services provision across health subsystems. Delivering on the commitment to universal health coverage will require concerted efforts to improve revenue generation in a fiscally sustainable manner and to increase the productivity of expenditures. In Toward Universal Health Coverage and Equity in Latin America and the Caribbean: Evidence from Select Countries, the authors show that evidence from an analysis of 54 household surveys corroborates that investments in extending coverage are yielding results. Although the poor still have worse health outcomes than do the rich, disparities have narrowed considerably -- particularly in the early stages of life. Countries have reached high levels of coverage and equity in utilization of maternal and child health services. The picture is more nuanced, and not nearly as positive, regarding adult health status and prevalence of chronic conditions and illnesses. Coverage of noncommunicable disease interventions is not as high, and service utilization is still skewed toward those who are better off. Prevalence of noncommunicable diseases has not behaved as expected given the drop in mortality; better access to diagnosis among wealthier individuals may be masking changes in actual prevalence. Catastrophic health expenditures have declined in most countries. The picture regarding equity, however, is mixed, pointing to limitations in the measure. Although the rate of impoverishment owing to health expenditures is low and generally declining, 2 4 million people in the countries studied still fall below the poverty line after health spending. Efforts to systematically monitor quality of care in the region are still in their infancy. Nonetheless, a review of the literature reveals important shortcomings in quality of care, as well as substantial differences across subsystems. Improving quality of care and ensuring sustainability of investments in health remain an unfinished agenda."
Amid political innovation and social transformation, Revolutionary America was also fertile ground for religious upheaval, as self-proclaimed visionaries and prophets established new religious sects throughout the emerging nation. Among the most influential and controversial of these figures was Jemima Wilkinson. Born in 1752 and raised in a Quaker household in Cumberland, Rhode Island, Wilkinson began her ministry dramatically in 1776 when, in the midst of an illness, she announced her own death and reincarnation as the Public Universal Friend, a heaven-sent prophet who was neither female nor male. In The Public Universal Friend, Paul B. Moyer tells the story of Wilkinson and her remarkable church, the Society of Universal Friends.Wilkinson's message was a simple one: humankind stood on the brink of the Apocalypse, but salvation was available to all who accepted God's grace and the authority of his prophet: the Public Universal Friend. Wilkinson preached widely in southern New England and Pennsylvania, attracted hundreds of devoted followers, formed them into a religious sect, and, by the late 1780s, had led her converts to the backcountry of the newly formed United States, where they established a religious community near present-day Penn Yan, New York. Even this remote spot did not provide a safe haven for Wilkinson and her followers as they awaited the Millennium. Disputes from within and without dogged the sect, and many disciples drifted away or turned against the Friend. After Wilkinson’s "second" and final death in 1819, the Society rapidly fell into decline and, by the mid-nineteenth century, ceased to exist. The prophet’s ministry spanned the American Revolution and shaped the nation’s religious landscape during the unquiet interlude between the first and second Great Awakenings.The life of the Public Universal Friend and the Friend’s church offer important insights about changes to religious life, gender, and society during this formative period. The Public Universal Friend is an elegantly written and comprehensive history of an important and too little known figure in the spiritual landscape of early America.
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