State and Public Policy for Health: An Analysis of Epidemiologic Transition in Brazil, Chile and Cuba from 1960 to 2010

Epidemiologic transition is a phenomenon that express long term changes in health indicators that characterize different populations. Besides, considering the shifts from hight levels of mortality or fecundity  to low levels of  those figures it is important to  emphasize that it is a process directly related to social and economical changes that it is, often, associated do improvements in the accessibility to healthcare, use of more effective remedies, as well as improvements in basic sanitation, and better levels of education of a specific population.  Considering the means that public policy are provided to offer healthcare services, it is important to understand the role played by State and market since it can be significant for any country to have good health indicators.

Based on the concept of epidemiologic transition this paper presents the development of some health indicators since 1960 until 2010 in three countries of Latin Amercia: Brasil, Chile and Cuba. Mentioning heath  in the context of public policy and disscussing the role played by State and market in this process, this paper aims to compare the changes in health indicators in those countries by considering the duties take on by each State.

It will be presented the  changes in life expectancy, fertility rate, contagious deseases immunization and death causes in those countries based on the data provided by World Health Organization and the World Bank. The main objective of this study is to point out different ways of providing such services for population showing how it may affect health indicators.