In resource-poor countries, substantial sums of money from governments and international donors are used to purchase equipment for health facilities. WHO estimates that 50—80 % of such equipment remains non-functional. This article is based on experience from various projects in developing countries in Asia and Africa. The key issues in the purchase, distribution, installation, management and maintenance of equipment for emergency obstetric care (EmOC) services are identified and discussed. Some positive examples are described to show how common equipment management problems are solved.

An important aspect of the ongoing debate on rural health policy is how to deliver inpatient care in sparsely populated rural areas. One alternative is to create a new classification of rural inpatient facility that would deliver more limited services than available in a rural hospital, have more

Abstract. We use data from 1983 and 1988 on hospital use in Alabama to ex-amine the decisions of rural pregnant women to bypass the nearest rural hospital providing obstetric services and seek care elsewhere. The proportion of women who made the decision to bypass the nearest rural hospital

Childbirth by cesarean section (c-section) is major abdominal surgery that carries risk to both mother and baby. There are reasons to suggest that c-section rates at rural hospitals might be different than c-section rates at urban hospitals. The diffusion of best practices, such as the safe

Australia’s rural hospitals face most of the same issues and challenges faced by metropolitan hospitals. However they also face additional challenges around geographic isolation, their iconic status and role as major employers in local communities, and their close relationship with community based

This article summarizes the perspectives gained in the course of evaluating a 4-year demonstration program that supported rural hospital networks as mechanisms for improving rural health care delivery. Findings include: (1) joining a network is a popular, low-cost strategic response for rural

American hospitals were used to test for a gradient descending from hospitals in counties adjacent to metropolitan areas to those not adjacent. Considerable variation in the ratios of adjacent to nonadjacent averages existed. No statistically significant difference was found, however. Of greater

Epidemiological study of chemical and thermal ocular injuries at a

Indigenous malaria remains a major pub-lic health problem in the interior areas of Ma-laysia where the infection rates are highest among the aboriginal Orang Asli. In the east-

of 1997 requires implementation of a Medicare prospective payment system (PPS) for hospital outpatient services, the authors evaluated the potential impact of outpatient PPS on rural hospitals. Areas examined include: (1) How dependent are rural hospitals on outpatient revenue? (2) Are they more