ABSTRACT
Public health is sometimes seen as separate from the rest of the health-care system, as a distinct set of programs either aimed at prevention or particular population groups at risk. This chapter is concerned with the basic tools that assist us to make sense of the 'mosaic' of the health system, and its apparent lack of 'rationality'. It starts with definitions of a health system, looks at how health systems have evolved and what they try to do, and the major typologies of health systems in the world. The chapter explains the key concepts in health financing and resource allocation, health services organisation, health-care decision-making and health policy development. It concludes with a review of how health systems should be evaluated from a public health perspective—or what the critical tests are for judging how Well a health system is able to serve the social enterprise of public health.
