Abstract
Primary Health Care, proclaimed by WHO in 1978, is a health strategy that aims to achieve the ultimate objective “Health For All”, with underlying political concerns for ideals such as social justice, equity and human rights. Meanwhile, “globalization”, urged by the U.S.A., other developed countries and multinational corporations, has since promoted liberalization of trade, capital and finance, which has in the past few decades been sweeping all over the world. With this “new economic liberalism”, values that put much emphasis on economic efficiency are now at the forefront. The World Bank, which supports the tendency along with the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization, has become an influential actor in helping developing countries to prosper economically.
The World Bank, whose basic idea is that investment in health is basic for economic growth, has in the 1990s also exerted considerable influence on the international health sector with its overwhelming provision of financial assistance. Instead of political concerns like equity and human rights, ’economic concerns’ such as fairer budget allocation, cost-effectiveness, cost reduction and efficiency have now become main points for discussion in the international health field. This shift in emphasis poses fundamental questions for the core goal of the World Health Organization; “Health For All”.
