This important new textbook provides comparative and critical analysis of health care policy from high-income countries in Europe to low-income developing countries in the Global South.

It integrates conceptual themes drawn from the fields of sociology, policy analysis, and political science to offer a unique combination of theory, historical background, and wider social commentary. The book is divided into three sections:

• Section I establishes the conceptual basis for the analysis of the health policymaking process, including implementation.
• Section II provides an introduction to the key elements of conducting a comparative health system’s analysis, including chapters that provide examples of performance analysis in both high- and low-income developing countries.
• Section III examines key challenges now facing health policy-makers that include long-term social care provision, widening the scope of public health to address social inequalities in health outcome, the integration of genomic medicine within a health care system, and the establishment of an effective national pharmaceutical policy.

Each chapter includes case studies, historical-institutional contexts, and summaries of key health policies. Detailed and clearly written, it is the ideal text for health and social science students in this expanding area of analysis.