The Center collaborates with Latin American organizations to explore the impact that the globalization of health care is having on vulnerable populations and to promote reforms that will reduce its negative effects. Much of its work is done with and through the Civil Society Forum of the Americas.

Under the sponsorship of the Civil Society Forum, the Center and CORSAPS, a Chilean organization devoted to improving public policies, organized a regional meeting to critically examine the effect of health reform in the region. The meeting, which brought together 80 leaders of civil society organizations, health care experts, business executives, government officials, and representatives of international organizations, took place in Santiago, Chile, in 1999. The participants agreed that current health care reforms need to be reconsidered in light of increasing inequality and lack of adequate services for those most in need. The presentations and discussions were published in a book in  Spanish, Health in Latin America: From Reform for Some to Reform for All, which has been widely distributed throughout Latin America.

The Santiago meeting was followed by a meeting on health reform in Central America, with particular attention to the health of indigenous people and women. The meeting, organized by the University of the Autonomous Region of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua, took place in Managua, Nicaragua, in 2000. It explored two themes: sexual and reproductive health and rights; and access to related health services by indigenous persons.

The Center participated in a conference on health reform and civil society in 2000 that was organized by the World Health Organization, the Society for International Development, and the Rockefeller Foundation. Its presentation was published as an article in the journal, Development.

Senior staff associate Irene Wielawski completed an evaluation of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Reach Out program, which provides incentives for physicians to serve uninsured and indigent patients. Her assessment will be published as a book and as articles in the popular press and professional journals.