ABSTRACT
Some of the most important actions undertaken as part of Pan American Health Care (PARO) and World Health Organization (WHO) technical cooperation are those aimed at strengthening national capacity to design, implement, and make effective use of methodologies and information systems that are geared to:
I. Identify and assess changes in the living and health conditions of the population
2. Develop capacity for the analysis, planning, and formulation of policy 3. Strengthen the capacity for leadership and management in the minis-
tries of health and other institutions of the sector both for normal operating conditions and for the Health Sector Reform (HSR) processes
Even though a number of initiatives have been undertaken since the middle of the past decade in support of such efforts, it was not until 1998 that a report on the health system was available for each country. Each report provides a systematic synthetic and analytical description of the respective health systems and the development and impact of HSR initiatives.
