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Biomedical subjects

J Frenk

Publications and source records attributed to J Frenk.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

[Equality in medical education policy in Mexico].

We compared the results of the educational policies of public versus private medical schools and traditional versus module-based medical programs. The comparison centers on the political value of equality. The hypotheses are the following: a) Public and module-based schools offer more equality of opportunities for enrollment, permanence and graduation of students than private and traditional schools; b) medical schools maintain their educational policies over time. The value of equality was operationalized with the Equality Index (EI). To test the proposed hypotheses we used Wilcoxon's rank sum test and Mann-Whitney "U" test. We studied an intentional sample of 21 medical school in Mexico. The median of the EI for public schools between 1980 to 1989 was 4; 2 for private schools, 2 for traditional schools, and 3 for module-based schools. The only significant difference found was that between public and private schools (p < 0.05). We conclude that in public schools there is more equality of opportunities than in private ones. The results are consistent during the decade of the 80's.

Education, Medical↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Conceptual basis of international health].

International health is becoming an important field of study and practice due mainly to the increasing complexity of international relationships which imply both changes in the epidemiologic profile of the population, and transformations of health care delivery systems. At the same time, the character of health problems does not recognize the geographical boundaries of nations; instead, it may open or reinforce new areas of cooperation or conflict in the international arena. The many interactions between international relations and health impose the need to build and consolidate an academic and intellectual tradition of international health, which supports its efforts to generate knowledge and leads its practical applications. International health is experiencing important conceptual and strategic changes which have to be taken into account if educational programs, research projects, and national, binational and multinational health actions are to be comprehensive in their approach, scope, and focus. This article identifies those conceptual and strategic changes, proposes basic definitions, the universe for action, and the disciplinary base of the new international health. In short, the article proposes the transition towards a new international health concept and practice.

Global Health↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Elements for a theory of transition in health].

This article presents the basic elements for developing a theory of the health transition. Such elements include the definition of concepts, the specification of a framework on the determinants of health status, the analysis of the mechanisms through which changes in health occur in populations, the characterization of the attributes that allow us to identify different transition models, and the enumeration of the possible consequences of the transition. The propositions are presented with a sufficient level of generality as to make them applicable to different contexts; at the same time, an attempt is made to provide them with the necessary specificity to account for different national experiences, thus opening a space for future comparative research efforts. Through the systematization exercise presented in this paper, we hope to contribute to the progress of a topic that has gained growing importance during recent years. Such importance is due to the enormous potential that health transition theory has for understanding and transforming the growing complexity of our times.

Birth Rate↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[The medical profession in urban areas of Mexico: demographic composition and social origin].

The medical profession in Mexico has experienced deep changes during the last decades. One of the most prominent has been the rapid growth in the number of physicians, who have tended to concentrate in the urban areas. In order to examine the sources of such increase, this paper analyzes the composition of the medical profession by age, sex, and social origin. The data come from the National Survey of Medical Employment, carried out in 1986, in which 604 physicians from a representative sample of households were interviewed in 16 of the main Mexican cities. The results show that the medical profession in Mexico is marked by a clear predominance of young people, which in turn is a sign of the recent explosion of graduates from medical schools. At the same time, there is a growing proportion of women. In contrast, the social origin of physicians has not experienced major changes, since most of them continue to come from the middle classes. The interpretation of these findings indicates that the growth in the number of physicians has not been due to a diversification of the social base of the profession, but to a greater demand for medical education among the middle classes and women. The changes experienced by the medical profession have a basic significance for the present and the future of health in México.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Physicians in Mexico, 1970-1990].

A study was carried out in 1970 on the distribution of medical personnel in Mexico. At that time an unequal distribution of physicians was detected, but not emphasized given the general shortage of physicians in the country. At the present time, the situation has changed. In this article the analysis of the 1990 census data using traditional indicators of availability of physicians in the country, as well as indirect criteria of physician requirements is presented. In the year of reference there were 157,407 physicians in the country, with a national average of 673 persons per physician. The distribution of physicians by state showed a great deal of variation in the number of persons per physician. For example, the state of Chiapas has 1,642 inhabitants per physician, whereas the Federal District has 292. The relation between trained and employed physicians shows another important phenomenon: there is a high percentage of physicians that do not practice clinical medicine (19.4%). Nevertheless, the number of physicians almost tripled the growth experienced by the general population, and important differences among and within states do persist. Furthermore, a new paradoxical effect has emerged, the presence of underemployment and unemployment of physicians, even in communities with greater needs for medical care. This indicates that the strategy of training more physicians has not solved the problems of accessibility and coverage, but in fact has fostered new problems and perhaps greater inequalities.

Demography↗